


Drowning

by IceQueenofMitera



Series: Beacon Hills Chronicles [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 10:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 45,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10683222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceQueenofMitera/pseuds/IceQueenofMitera
Summary: It has been two months since Trish Roberts was pulled back into the world she thought she left behind. With the Alpha dead, her younger sister aware of Beacon Hills' secret and Derek the new Alpha, she thought things would return to normal. At least as normal as a supernatural could get.She was wrong...Between a Hunter with a bad reputation returning to town and Derek building his pack as quickly as he can, Trish can see the battle lines being drawn. And with a new creature terrorizing Beacon Hills, Trish and Anna may be forced to chose sides. Will they all survive this new threat?Season 2I do not own Teen Wolf. Unfortunately.Anna and Trish are co-owned with my sister





	1. Intro

In the course of two months, my world has been turned upside down. In the course of two months, I went from being a normal nurse trying to support my younger sister after our mother’s death to once again dealing with a world most people think are just fairy tales and myths. And trust me, I sometimes wish I was one of those blissfully ignorant people. Well, I was as normal as I could possibly be, considering I am a supernatural myself, so to speak. I had been neck deep in the secret world of Beacon Hills since I was thirteen, but with the Hale fire six years earlier, my contact with the supernatural, namely werewolves, had left with Laura and Derek Hale, my best friend and her brother.

 

Two months ago, Laura was murdered by her uncle for the spark that made her an Alpha. Two months ago, Peter bit a teenaged boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Two months ago, Derek dragged me back into the world I’d left and my instincts as an Eamonn would not allow me to turn my back on what was going on. Peter had tracked down everyone involved in the Hale fire and had gone on a killing spree to avenge his family. And try as I might, I could not keep what I knew from Anna.

 

I’ve been reminded of how painful this secret world can be. Peter’s dead and Anna is devastated. Derek seemed to think that two wrongs make a right and I am upset with him for killing Peter. Derek is the new Alpha of Beacon Hills and we have not spoken since Peter’s death. Anna is angry at him as well and I don’t blame her. I know what it’s like to lose someone you love dearly. And I’m not talking about our mother.

 

And I am also faced with a mystery. During the last few weeks, Derek and Scott were almost killed by Hunters and Derek was caught by Kate Argent in an effort to find Peter and Scott before she knew that Scott was a wolf. Confused yet? Peter bit Lydia to force Stiles to help him find Derek, who had taken Scott’s phone knowing he was about to get caught by Hunters and that either Scott or Stiles would use a phone finding app to find Scott’s phone. But the mystery I’m faced with is a still human Lydia.

 

Why is that a mystery? you ask. When an Alpha bites a person, one of two things happen. Said person becomes a werewolf, like Scott did. Or the person’s body rejects the Bite and they die painfully. I have seen this happen once and it breaks my heart when I think about it. I may eventually tell you the story one day, but I cannot bring myself to do so now. Lydia has not turned or is in any danger of dying now that her body has stabilized. She’s still completely human and I can only ask myself why.


	2. Search Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna, Scott, Stiles and Allison race to find a missing Lydia before the Hunters. Trish receives a warning from Derek, along with a position in his pack

I stood at the nurses’ station watching a teenage boy with a “Get Well” balloon tied to his wrist try to get comfortable in the waiting room chairs. Stiles had fallen asleep again and was muttering in his sleep. It had been a week since Lydia had been bitten and Stiles had been at the hospital all weekend. Melissa, myself and Sheriff Stilinski had all told him to go home numerous times, but he was still there. He had a raging crush on Lydia, but I’m pretty sure this was approaching stalker levels. But he was proving to be quite entertaining. Mr. Martin came out of Lydia’s room and saw Stiles laid out across three chairs. He looked over and saw Melissa and motioned her over before pointing at Stiles.

“He’s been here all night?”

“He’s been here all weekend.” I couldn’t help but snicker. A nurse changed the trash bag next to Stiles’ head and he muttered something that caused the nurse to give him a weird look. I finally went over to Stiles and thumped his forehead. He jumped and almost fell out of the chairs, the balloon smacking him in the face.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Did you just thump me?”

“Yes I did. Now go home.”

“But I gotta stay for moral support.”

“You can give your moral support at home. I’m not going to keep telling you.”

“If I don’t?”

“I’m going to drag you out of this hospital by your ear and load you into your Jeep myself,” Stiles just looked at me. “Don’t think I won’t do it.” Another nurse approached us.

“Trish, Mr. Sanders is being uncooperative again. The other nurses said you can usually get him to take his meds.”

“Alright,” I pointed at Stiles. “Go home.”

 

After getting Mr. Sanders, who was a stubborn old man with Alzheimer’s who thought I was his wife when they first married, to cooperate, I made notes on his chart. His two kids were making arraignments for him to go to Beacons Crossing. The caretaker could no longer handle him and Mr. Sanders thought that he was an intruder. Which led to him breaking a hip and his stay in the ER. I rubbed the bridge of my nose before putting the chart back. I heard a loud bang as if something had fallen. I approached the nurses’ station again to check my patients’ charts and saw Stiles leaning over a fallen vending machine.

“Stiles!” Then I heard a long and loud scream that sounded like it was coming from Lydia’s room.

“Lydia?” Melissa, myself, Mr. Martin and Stiles all rushed to the room. “Lydia!”

“What the hell was that?” Melissa asked as she opened the door. Stiles pushed his way through.

“Lydia!”

“Stiles!” He ran towards the bathroom. The water was running but no Lydia. Her hospital gown was in the corner. Melissa shut off the water and we all looked at each other confused. Stiles suddenly grabbed my arm and brought my attention to the open window.

“Ah, crap.”

 

“Naked?” Stilinski asked as Melissa, Mr. Martin and I gave him our statements. “As in nude?”

“No, she was wearing flower petals.” Mr. Martin didn’t appreciate my sarcasm.

“I’m pretty sure they mean the same thing,” Melissa retorted. “But, yes, as far as we know she left here clothing-optional.”

“Alright, you checked the whole hospital, right?”

“Every last corner.”

“Nothing suspicious?” Melissa and I both shook our heads.

“She just took off,” I said. Stilinski turned to his deputy.

“Alright. Let’s get an APB out on a 16 year old redhead. Any other descriptors?” Stiles joined in.

“5 foot 3, green eyes, fair-skinned and her hair is actually strawberry blond.” I sighed and gave Stiles a look. That didn’t make him sound like a stalker at all.

“Is that right?” By the look Stilinski was giving his son, the patience was wearing thin with his only child.

“Yeah.” Stilinski grabbed him by the back of the neck. “Ah!”

“Come here,” I was trying not to laugh. “What the hell are you still doing here?”

“Um… providing moral support?”

“Uh-huh. How ‘bout you provide your ass back home, where you should be.”

“Okay. I can do that too. Mmm.”

“Yeah,” Stilinski pushed Stiles away before turning back to us. “We’re gonna find her, so don’t worry.” I wasn’t worried. I had slipped Stiles Lydia’s hospital gown earlier. We had a secret weapon in tracking down Lydia that went by the name of Scott.

 

**ANNA**

 

“Will you put your feet down?” Scott asked for the hundredth time.

“I’m comfortable,” I replied. I was sitting in the back of Stiles’ Jeep. I’d gotten a ride from the neighbor to the hospital, telling her there’d been an emergency with a friend of mine. I met Scott there and we’d gotten into the Jeep to wait on Stiles. “Here comes Stiles.” I sat up as Stiles got into the Jeep and handed Scott a bloody hospital gown.

“This is the one she was just wearing?”

Stiles nodded.

“Trish took it before anyone else could and gave it to me.”

“I’m not going to let anyone hurt her,” Scott said. “Not again.”

“Take a whiff, Wolf Boy,” I said.

“Yeah, just shove the thing into your face and let’s find her,” Stiles started the car. “Wow!” I looked up to see Allison in the headlights. She came around to Scott’s side.

“What are you doing here? Someone’s gonna see us.”

“I don’t care, she is one of my best friends, and we need to find her before they do.” Oh, by the way, Allison and Scott aren’t supposed to be seen with one another. Or date. Or be friends. You know, the whole he’s a werewolf and she’s from a family of werewolf Hunters thing. And I’m sure by they she meant said Hunters.

“I can find her before the cops can.”

“Not talking about cops there, loverboy.” Yeah, Stiles and I were the only two that knew they were still seeing each other in secret. It was very eerily like Romeo and Juliet. If I saw any poisons being drunk or daggers going towards hearts, I was going to hurt them both. Allison nodded towards me.

“How about before my father does?”

“He knows?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah.”

“What? Does he have someone in the department feeding him information?” I asked.

“Actually yeah. I just saw him and three other guys leave my house in two SUVs.”

“Search party,” Scott said.

“It’s more like a hunting party.”

“Get in,” Scott let Allison in the back with me and Stiles took off.

 

“Alright, but if she’s turning would they actually kill her?” Stiles asked.

“I don’t know. They won’t tell me anything. All they say is ‘We’ll talk after Kate’s funeral, when the others get here.’”

“What others?” Stiles and I asked at the same time.

“I don’t… They won’t tell me that either.”

“Jeeze. Your family keeps more secrets than Trish does,” I commented. I was learning more about my older sister little by little and it was like pulling teeth to get her to even talk about the family secrets. I still didn’t think she was telling me everything but she finally had come clean about the Roberts family, our connection to the Hale family and her own super amazing abilities. I was kinda jealous, to be honest.

“Okay, your family’s got some serious communication issues to work on.”

“Ya think?”

“Hey, Scott, are we going the right way?” Scott had his head stuck out the window like a dog, trying to catch Lydia’s scent. It was actually quite comical.

“Take the next right!” Stiles took the next right hard.

 

We found ourselves in the middle of the woods, Scott leading the way.

“Wait a minute,” Stiles said, taking several steps past Scott. “I know where we are.” We approached an abandoned house that looked like it had been burned.

“Why is there a house in the middle of the woods? We’re not about to go inside are we? Cause that’s usually how people in scary movies die.” Stiles gave me a look before turning to Scott.

“She came here? You sure?”

“Um, I take it you’ve been in the abandoned burned out house in the middle of the woods?”

“Anna, shut up.”

“Yeah,” Scott said. “This is where the scent leads. And don’t tell Anna to shut up.”

“Thank you, Scott.”

“It’s the old Hale house. You’ve never been here before, have you?”

“Nope.”

“Has Lydia ever been here?” Stiles asked.

“Not with me,” Allison said. “And we know not with Anna.” Scott shook his head and we started walking towards the house.

“Why is Lydia being here important?”

“Because Derek lives here,” Scott said.

“Derek lives here? He can’t afford to fix up the place?”

“Maybe she came here on instinct,” Allison suggested. “Like she was looking for Derek.” Oh, that’s right. Derek was the Alpha now. After killing my Peter and stealing the Alpha spark from him in revenge for Peter accidentally killing Laura and taking her Alpha spark. Yeah. I know. It’s confusing for me too. But I really didn’t want to talk to Derek right now. Or about him.

“You mean, looking for an Alpha.”

“Wolves need a pack, right?”

“Not all of them.” Exhibit A was currently talking to Allison.

“But would she have been drawn to an Alpha? Is it an instinct to be part of a pack?”

“Yeah, we’re stronger in packs.”

“Like strength in numbers.”

“No, like, literally stronger, faster, better in every way.”

“Is that the same for an Alpha?”

Scott nodded.

“That’ll make Derek stronger too.”

“Great, a stronger Alpha with anger issues. Beautiful.”

“Dude, you just sounded like Trish,” Stiles commented.

“Dude, why do you think I sound like Trish, dingbat?” Stiles went back to looking around for some reason. “What the hell are you doing?” He crouched down.

“Whoa! Hey, look at this,” Allison and I joined him and saw he’d found a long piece of wire. “You see this? I think it’s a tripwire.”

“Then quit messing —,” Stiles pulled on the wire. “With it. Seriously, Stiles? You’re going to trip the tripwire?”

“Stiles?” Scott said from behind us.

“Yeah, buddy?” We turned and saw Scott hanging upside down, one leg caught in a trap. “Oh.” I gave Stiles a dirty look at the same time trying not to laugh at Scott.

“Next time you see a tripwire,” He held his hands out. “Don’t trip it.” Allison was trying not to laugh too.

“Yeah, noted.” We stepped forward to help him down.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” We stopped. “Someone’s coming. Hide,” We looked around. “Go!” We took off, taking cover behind a couple of trees and bushes several yards away. We watched as Mr. Argent and three other Hunters walked up to Scott. We were amazingly able to hear what was being said. Mr. Argent crouched down in front of Scott.

“Scott?”

“Mr. Argent.”

“How are you doing?”

“Good. You know, just hangin’ out,” I bit my lip. The pun would have been funny if it wasn’t Hunters he was being punny with. “Is this one of yours? It’s good. Nice design. Very constricting.”

“What are you doing out here, Scott?”

“Looking for my friend.”

“That’s right. Lydia’s in your group now, isn’t she? Part of the clique? Is that the word you use? Or is there another way to put it? Part of your pack?”

“Actually, clique sounds about right to me.”

“I hope so. ‘Cause I know she’s a friend of Allison’s, and one special circumstance, such as yourself. One I can handle. Not two,” Mr. Argent paused as Stiles, Allison and I looked at one another. They were planning on killing Lydia. So much for the Code. “Scott, do you know what a hemicorporectomy is?” I sure as hell didn’t.

“I have a feeling I don’t want to,” Scott replied.

“A medical term for amputating someone at the waist. Cutting them in half. Your friend, Trish, would know this, although I doubt she’s seen it at the hospital. But she had seen it,” Why was he name dropping my sister? “Takes a tremendous amount to strength to cut through tissue and bone like that,” He reached up and motioned like he was cutting Scott in half. Trish had told me that was how Laura died, although it hadn’t been a Hunter that had done that. “Let’s hope a demonstration never becomes necessary.” Argent stood and walked away, the Hunters following him. We waited until they were long gone before we came out of hiding and ran towards Scott.

“You okay?” Allison asked as Stiles and I tracked down where the trap was tied off.

“It’s just another life-threatening conversation with your dad.”

“Guys, a little help here.” I found where it was tied, but couldn’t figure out the mechanism that held it in place. Suddenly the line slacked and we turned to see Scott had freed himself.

“Thanks. But I think I got it.”

“Show off,” I said.

“Yeah.” Allison gave a small laugh. Scott headed towards the house.

“Comin’?”

 

**TRISH**

 

“Any luck finding Lydia?” I asked when Anna tried to sneak into the house. I’d been pretending to be asleep on the couch as she tried to sneak past.

“How did you…?” I sat up.

“I gave Stiles the hospital gown. And I figured you were with them. And Mrs. Johnston told me she gave you a ride to the hospital.”

“Oh.”

“Unlike Stiles and Scott, you don’t have to sneak around. I only ask that you let me know what you’re doing.” Anna sat on the couch next to me.

“Scott tracked her to Derek’s house, but then lost the scent.”

“Derek’s house? Why was she at Derek’s?”

Anna shrugged.

“Allison thought it might have been because Lydia was looking for an Alpha.”

“Lydia’s not a werewolf.”

“How do you know?”

“She still has a bite wound on her side. If she were a werewolf, it would have healed last week.” I hadn’t talked to Derek at all since he became Alpha. The non-communication was mutual. I was pretty sure the Argents were looking for Derek, now that he was an Alpha. And usually a new Alpha’s first order of business was building their pack. And Scott had already made it clear he was not joining Derek’s pack. The teen was still balking at the fact that he was a werewolf and was upset that Derek had gone back on his word to help Scott kill the Alpha in order to be cured. And Anna was upset that Derek had killed Peter. She’d grown attached to Derek’s uncle while he was pretending to be catatonic to throw suspicion off himself that he was on a killing spree of revenge over the fire the decimated the Hale family and leaving only three survivors. Derek was the only one left now. Hell, I was upset that he killed his own family. That’s not what family does. Even werewolf families don’t kill each other.

“You need to get to bed. You have school tomorrow.”

 

“I don’t remember anything,” Lydia said. “I was getting in the shower one minute and the next thing I remember is I’m naked in the woods. I saw the flashing lights and went towards them. I don’t know how I got so far away from here.” I rubbed her back. Stilinski and Stiles had found Lydia a couple hours ago in the woods around where something had gotten into the back of an ambulance and tore apart a DOA heart attack victim. I had no clue what would have done that but a couple of internal organs were missing.

“It’s okay, Lydia. The doctor is going to look you over and make sure you’re okay and then they’ll release you to go home.” I stepped out as Dr. Hilyard came into the room. It was the end of my shift and I was so ready to go home. These double shifts were going to kill me. But Anna would be pleased to know her friend was safe and sound.

 

I walked into the house and flipped on the light.

“Holy Mother of God!” Derek was standing in my living room and had succeeded in nearly sending me back to the hospital as a patient. I held my hand to my chest and waited for my heart to start beating normally. It was the first time I’d even seen him since Peter’s death and his rise to Alpha.

“Gerard’s back.” No “sorry I almost gave you a massive heart attack”? Jackass. But I understood why he wanted to tell me in person.

“Ah, shit.” If Gerard Argent was here, it meant the Hunters had decided that Derek was a greater threat.

“He’s declared war.”

“What do you mean, declared war?”

“Scott and I watched him kill an Omega tonight. With no proof this Omega harmed a live human.”

“Wait, what?” I must be exhausted. I could have sworn he said “harmed a live human’. “Can you harm a dead one? Do the Hunters even care about that?”

“He was scavenging on the dead. But that’s not my point.”

“Derek, I just got done with a double shift. I’m exhausted and I just want to —,”

“Gerard’s not going by the Code anymore.” That got my attention.

“What?”

“He told that to Argent and the Hunters that were with them. He’s here to avenge Kate. And we’re all on his radar.”

“Okay, we as in you, Scott and whatever Betas you end up turning or are we including myself in this?”

“If he knows about you, yes.”

“Why would he want to kill me?”

“I know how strong that protective instinct of yours is,” And let me point out even Derek doesn’t know I’m an Eamonn. I think Alan may be the only one alive who actually knows. “He’ll kill you if you stand in his way. And that _will_ draw me out.”

“Why?” Derek just looked at me. “Wait… Did you just make me your Emissary? You know that means you’ll actually have to listen to me, right?”

“You’re the only one I trust.”

“Which means you’ve already gifted the Bite,” I rubbed my forehead. “Please tell me you didn’t pull a Peter.”

“Of course not! The ones I offer the Bite to will be fully aware of their choice entails.”

“Hunters, wolfsbane, other wolf packs.”

“They’ll know everything. I’m not going to bite random kids in the woods and then let them flail around trying to figure it out on their own.”

“Oh, that’s good to know. Now to you mind getting the hell out so I can get some sleep?” Derek walked out my front door and I locked it. I was going to have to hide the spare key somewhere else.


	3. Jail Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott struggles with the full moon. Allison and Anna meet a new creature. Derek, Stiles and Trish attempt to break Derek's Beta out of jail.

I fixed myself dinner. Anna had gone over to Lydia’s to see how she was doing. I had slept most of the day until Anna called saying she was going to her best friend’s house. She had the Renegade and I knew I needed to start thinking about getting her a vehicle of her own. I’d had a weird dream that Derek had almost given me a heart attack and warned me that Gerard was in town breaking the Code before basically making me his Emissary. I opened the paper and a headline caught my eye. **BODY FOUND IN PRESERVE** I scanned the article. An unknown adult male was found severed in half in the Preserve. The police thought he might have been a drifter passing through. Wait a minute… I dialed a number I now had memorized.

_Yes, Trish?_

“I was pretty out of it but were you really here last night? Giving me a heart attack?”

Derek sighed. _Yes._

“Oh. So why exactly did Gerard cut an Omega in half?”

_I never said he was cut in half._

“The paper did.”

_I think he was looking for me. He told Argent he was looking for the Alpha and that he’d heard he was here._

“You also know how fast word travels in the supernatural community. A new Alpha draws interest. Especially if that Alpha is related to Talia Hale.”

_I know._

_Derek!_ I heard a young male voice calling in the background. _Derek!_

_I have to go, Trish._

“I can hear that.” He hung up. And I looked through the rest of the paper.

 

I hummed a tune as I headed to the mailbox to send in a bill. As I started heading back to the house, I heard tires screech to a stop. I turned to see a familiar black Camaro. The passenger side window rolled down to reveal Scott. Derek leaned forward.

“Get in.”

“Get in, please.”

Scott tried not to laugh.

“Trish, not now. We need your help. The cops picked up my Beta for murdering his father,” I gave him a look. “It wasn’t him.”

“And tonight’s a full moon,” I said. I opened the door. “Get in the back, Scott.” Scott climbed in the back and Derek sped off. I sent Anna a text letting her know I wasn’t going to be home for a while.

 

“Whose house is this?” I asked when we walked up to a single story house with police tape around it. Derek had parked down the street to not draw attention to us.

“Isaac Lahey’s,” Derek said.

“Are we going to break in?”

“Probably,” Scott said. We went inside and Derek handed me the flashlight. “If Isaac didn’t kill his father, who did?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Then how do you know he’s telling the truth?”

“I trust my senses,” I glanced back at him as Scott took the flashlight from me. Derek motioned to his eyes and I nodded, understanding. “And it’s a combination on them. Not just your sense of smell.” Scott stopped and looked at Derek.

“You saw the lacrosse thing today.” I only raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.”

“Did it look that bad?” Derek put his hand on Scott’s shoulder and leaned closer.

“Yeah.” I gave a laugh. I was going to have to ask about that later. Derek, with his hand still on Scott’s shoulder, guided him towards the basement. “You wanna learn?” Derek opened the door leading to the basement. Scott shined the light down the stairs. It didn’t look like the Laheys kept it clean and just shoved anything and everything down there. “Let’s start now.” And Werewolf 101 is now in session. Scott started to walk down the steps.

“What’s down there?”

“Motive.” I started to follow him but Derek took my arm to stop me.

“And what am I looking for?”

“Follow your senses.” Scott started to look around and I wondered if he was doing what Derek was saying.

“What happened down here?”

“The kind of thing that leaves an impression.” Scott crouched down and examined the floor. He then moved towards a freezer and I then noticed that Derek wasn’t standing next to me. I went down the stairs as Derek turned the flashlight on, startling Scott. That’s my brother. Derek Hale. Master creeper. Wait… Did I just call him my brother…? I joined them a moment later. “Open it.” Scott did so as I moved to the other side of him and Derek shined the light into the freezer.

“Oh, my God,” I breathed. The inside was covered with bloody scratches. Mr. Lahey was locking his son in the freezer and Isaac was trying to claw his way out. Derek must have known this and offered Isaac the Bite. And what abused kid wouldn’t say yes?

“This is why he said yes to you.” Scott had come to the same conclusion.

“Everyone wants power,” Derek said matter of factly.

“If we help you, then you have to stop.”

“Have you met Derek, Scott?”

“Trish.”

“You can’t just go around turning people into werewolves,” Scott ignored us.

“I can if they’re willing,” Derek replied.

“Every Alpha needs a pack,” I put in. “At least he’s not doing what Peter did.”

“Are you on his side now?”

“Yes, I am.” Derek looked at me. I guess this means I’m officially his Emissary.

“Did you at least tell Isaac about the Argents? About being hunted?”

“Yes. And he still asked.”

“Then he’s an idiot.”

“And you’re the idiot dating Argent’s daughter.” Scott looked at him surprised.

“Seriously, Scott?”

“Yeah. I know your little secret.” Scott looked at me.

“Hey, I just found out two seconds ago so don’t look at me like that.”

“And if I know, how long do you think it’s gonna take for them to find out? You saw what happens to an Omega,” Scott looked away and Derek put a hand on Scott’s shoulder. “With me, you’ll learn how to use all your senses. With me, you’ll learn control,” Derek took Scott’s wrist and held it up. Scott’s claws slowly extended. “Even on a full moon.” Scott jerked out of his grasp.

“If I’m with you, I lose her.”

“You’re gonna lose her anyway. You know that.” Derek turned away and I looked at him. He knew that from experience.

“Wait,” Derek stopped and turned back to us. “I’m not part of your pack,” Derek gave him a puzzled look. “But I want him out. He’s my responsibility, too.” Now I was giving him the puzzled look. He was talking like an Alpha.

“Why? Because he’s one of us?”

“Because he’s innocent.”

“Scott’s right, Derek. If he stays in jail tonight, he will kill someone. And if Isaac kills someone, the Argents come down on all of us.”

 

**ANNA**

 

“I’m sorry, Lydia,” I said. “Trish got called into work so she needs the car.” I hated lying to Lydia. But all of us had agreed to keep her in the dark about Peter, the bite on her side and everything that had to do with the supernatural, now that we saw she wasn’t turning into a werewolf. Something Trish couldn’t understand. Hell, we were all confused by it.

“It’s okay,” Lydia said with a warm smile. “I’ll see you at school.”

I smiled back. “Okay.” I left her room, waving at her mom on the way out.

“Bye, Anna.”

“Bye, Mrs. Martin.”

 

Okay, the truth was I was meeting Allison down the street from the Lahey house. Isaac, the boy I’d met at the formal a week earlier, had been arrested for killing his father. But Isaac was innocent. So while Stiles, Derek and Trish were going to go break him out of the sheriff’s station somehow before the Argents killed him, Allison and I were going to keep Scott from killing someone. I had thought he had the wolf under control, but it didn’t look like it.

“Okay, so your dad and grandpa think that Isaac killed his father so they’re sending someone dressed like a deputy to kill Isaac?” I asked when Allison arrived.

“We hunt those that hunt us,” she said. “If they believe Isaac took a human life, they’re going to kill him to keep him from doing it again.”

“Don’t they have to have proof?”

“They think the door being ripped off is enough proof. I slowed the Hunter down, so hopefully that’ll give Derek, Trish and Stiles enough time to get Isaac out of there.” Yeah, my friend is a werewolf now, courtesy of Derek Hale. Allison pulled out a large duffel bag from her trunk.

“What’s that?”

“Chains for Scott.”

“I have now decided I hate full moons.”

Allison chuckled as we headed towards the house.

 

Once inside, we headed towards the basement. I shined my flashlight into the basement.

“Oh, look. A creepy basement.” Allison only gave a half smile and shook her head, shining her own flashlight down the stairs and slowly began to descend them.

“Scott?” she called. We found him on his knees, panting. Oh he was definitely struggling tonight. Allison knelt down in front of him and unzipped the bag and pulled out a handful of chain. “Are you sure we have to do this?” she asked. Scott looked up. His fangs were extended and his eyes kept going from brown to bright yellow back to brown.

“Yes.”

“Where?” Scott looked towards a freezer and we both shined our lights on it.

“Is it just me or does that not look like it’ll be werewolf proof?” They both gave me a look. “Okay, just me.” Allison and I helped Scott get into the freezer and I noticed the bloody scratches on the lid. So the rumor was true. Isaac was being abused by his father. Which would also explain why the boy was so shy and kept to himself. Allison looked like she wanted to lock up Scott as much as I did. Which wasn’t at all. She sighed and Scott looked up at us.

“Please. I don’t want to hurt you. Either of you.”

“I still don’t like this idea,” I said. Allison nodded in agreement but hesitantly started to reach for the lid. She looked back down at Scott and then leaned down to kiss him. She hesitated again before she shut the lid. I helped her slid the chains around the freezer.

“It’s done,” she said as I checked the lock. “It’s locked.”

“Go,” Scott’s voiced echoed inside the freezer.

“Scott, I can’t…”

“Just go!”

“Are we going to leave him in here all night?”

Allison nodded before grabbing her flashlight and my wrist. Together we ran out of the basement and up the stairs. Allison closed the door. We walked towards the kitchen right when Allison’s flashlight went out.

“That’s convenient,” I muttered as she slapped the flashlight against her palm. “Crap. I left my flashlight downstairs.” Allison set the flashlight on the counter and then leaned over it. “He’ll be okay right?” I heard something hiss. “Um… please tell me you heard that, too.”

“Shh.” We both slowly looked towards the hallway. There was something there with glowing yellow eyes. And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Scott. It snarled and we both screamed. While Allison’s scream wasn’t that loud, mine was loud and shrill. Allison turned and grabbed a knife out of the block and turned and faced it while I plastered myself against the wall. The thing continued to hiss and snarl.

“Come on,” Allison whispered. “Come on!”

“Let’s not piss it off!” The door to the basement exploded and I screamed again. Scott rolled in, taking a position between us and Mr. Hissy, growling. The thing snarled and literally climbed the wall and onto the ceiling. The thing turned out to be a humanoid lizard. It snarled at us before taking off and smashing through the front door.

“What in holy hell was that!?” I screamed.

“I don’t know.”

 

**TRISH**

 

Stiles pulled up in front of the sheriff’s station.

“Anyone else think this is a bad idea?” I asked. Stiles and Derek were looking at the station.

“It’s the best one we have,” Stiles said. Anna was with Allison helping her restrain Scott. Which I wasn’t exactly happy about. “Okay, now the keys to every cell are in a password protected lockbox in my father’s office.”

“Which you have the password to. I hope,” I responded.

“Of course. The problem is getting past the front desk.”

“I’ll distract her,” Derek immediately said, reaching for the handle. Oh, I’ve seen him do this trick before. But he was also a teenager at the time as well.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Stiles grabbed Derek’s jacket. “You? You’re not going in there,” Derek turned and looked at Stiles’ hand before looking at Stiles. He did this a couple times before Stiles realized Derek wanted him to let go before he hurt him. “I’m taking my hand off.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“I was exonerated,” Derek reminded him, referring to the whole incident where everyone in Beacon Hills thought Derek was behind the killings because of Scott and Stiles.

“You’re still a person of interest.”

“An innocent person.”

“And… You? Yeah, right!” I slapped Stiles in the back of the head.

“He wasn’t the one killing random people. The only thing he’s guilty of is killing an Alpha.”

“Is that you’re way of helping?” Derek asked, still glaring at Stiles.

“Yep.”

Stiles sighed. “Okay, fine. What’s your plan?”

“To distract her.” Judging by the way he said it, there was no plan.

“Uh huh. How? By punching her in the face?”

“Oh, dear God.” My head went into my arm. Derek faked a laugh.

“By talking to her.”

“Okay, alright. Give me a sample,” I looked between the two. “What are you going to open with?”

“Are you freaking serious?” Derek was glaring at Stiles.

“Dead silence. That should work beautifully. Any other ideas?” Derek pretended to think.

“I’m thinking about punching you in the face.” Stiles’ jaw dropped.

“I wouldn’t push it, Stiles. He might surprise you.” I gave Derek a wink and I saw the amusement on his face. This was actually an inside joke between us. This was a trick that he, Laura and I pulled all the time at school. One would distract the teacher or an aid, while the other two would slip out or into class. Laura and Derek were a lot better at it than me, but I usually ended up subtly using my magic. We walked up to the door and I stopped, grabbing Stiles’ arm. Derek continued on.

“Watch and learn,” I whispered. Derek walked in and looked around, like he was looking for someone who worked there. A few minutes later, the female deputy I’d talked to when I’d come to bail out Derek when he pulled me back into this world, came out, holding a folder.

“Good evening, how can I help,” she looked up and paused a second. “You?” And she has taken the bait. Derek leaned on the counter and smiled.

“Hi.” Stop the presses right now! Alert the media! Derek Hale just smiled.

“Hi.”

“I had a question,” Stiles rolled his eyes and I grinned as Derek proceeded to flirt with the deputy. “Uh, sorry, I’m a little… a little thrown. I wasn’t really expecting someone…” The deputy giggled and I motioned for Stiles to go.

“Like me?”

“Oh, I was gonna say ‘so incredibly beautiful’ but yeah, I guess that would be the same thing.” I darted after Stiles, Derek successfully commandeering the deputy’s undivided attention. If I stayed watching them, I was going to start laughing.

 

I followed Stiles into the sheriff’s office and he punched in the code for the lockbox.

“I thought the keys were supposed to be in there,” I whispered. The box was empty.

“They are,” We heard keys clinking. “Oh, no,” Stiles replaced the cover and grabbed my arm. “Come on.” We wandered around looking for whoever had the keys.

“What are you going to say to bullshit our way out of this?”

“I don’t know. Something.”

“Give me a sample.” He gave me a dirty look and I grinned. We exited a hallway and came face to face with a deputy.

“Whoa! Uh… Just looking for …,” I grabbed Stiles’ shirt once I noticed the broken arrow shaft in his right leg. “What?”

“Run.” He saw the arrow shaft at that moment and he turned to run. The Hunter shoved me into the wall, where I hit my head and was dazed for a minute, and grabbed Stiles, putting his hand over his mouth and positioning a syringe over his neck. I knew it was a bluff. That syringe was meant for Isaac. I got to my feet and took off after them as Stiles grabbed the fire alarm. I jumped at him as he dropped Stiles inside the holding area. I swung and clocked him in the jaw. The Hunter took the hit like a pro and shoved me back. I hit the door frame and pain went through by back and I felt like all the air had been pushed out of my lungs as I hit the floor. I then noticed that the door to one of the holding cells was open, separated from the top hinge.

“Oh, shit,” I breathed. Isaac tackled the Hunter. Isaac slammed him against a desk before slamming him against the wall. Stiles scrambled past me towards the wall farthest from the werewolf and Hunter. The Hunter brought the syringe down and Isaac grabbed his arm, growling. He squeezed and the Hunter gave a cry of pain before dropping the syringe. Isaac slammed him against the wall and the Hunter went limp. Derek finally decided to show up and smashed the syringe with his foot. Isaac turned and looked at Derek. Then he looked at the two of us. Derek looked at us and I met his gaze. He seemed to know that I wasn’t in a position to defend myself or Stiles at that moment. He then looked back at his Beta. I was still gasping for breath. I probably sounded like I was having an asthma attack. Isaac’s gaze landed on Stiles and he started to go towards him. Derek stepped between us and Isaac and roared. Isaac jumped back and then cowered against the wall. I could have sworn Isaac whimpered like a puppy. Derek sighed like he hadn’t wanted to force Isaac into submission. Isaac looked back up at Derek and I saw that the Alpha not only forced a submission but also forced the young werewolf back into his human form.

“How did you do that?” Stiles asked. Derek turned back towards him.

“I’m the Alpha,” Then he looked at me. “You okay, Trish?”

I nodded. “I will be once I can breathe again,” Derek helped me to my feet. “We need to get out of here before Stilinski gets here.”

“Get him outta here. I’ll stay behind.” I nodded at Stiles and Derek hauled Isaac to his feet and the three of us made our escape.


	4. A New Threat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek gains a new Beta. Trish and Alan are tasked with an investigation by the Argents. Trish comes across an old flame

**ANNA**

 

“You didn’t get in trouble did you?” I asked Stiles. We were in gym class. Allison and Scott were climbing the rock wall.

“Well, I was stuck explaining why there was an unconscious deputy in the holding area and a broken door on a holding cell.”

“What did you tell him?”

“The deputy did it.” I giggled just as Allison kicked Scott’s foot out from under him and he fell. The harness stopped his fall about half a foot from the mat. The class laughed. A second later Scott hit the mat. Coach sat next to Scott, laughing himself.

“McCall, I don’t know why, but your pain gives me a special kind of joy,” He continued to laugh. “Alright, next two. Stilinski, Erica, let’s go. The wall.”

“Alright.” Stiles headed to the wall. Erica hesitated a moment before she followed. I didn’t know Erica at all. She was quiet, just like Isaac, and mainly kept to herself. Stiles quickly climbed the wall while Erica seemed to struggle to climb it. About half way up, she stopped and watched Stiles come back down. Then she started to freak out. Stiles looked back up at her worriedly. Everyone started heading to the wall.

“Erica,” Coach called back up to her. “Dizzy? Is it vertigo?” Lydia looked at Coach like he was an idiot. Not that he wasn’t…

“Vertigo’s a dysfunction of the vestibular system of the inner ear,” she said. Coach just looked at her. She motioned towards Erica. “She’s just freaking out.”

“Erica,” Coach called back up to her.

“I’m fine,” Erica called back. I’m pretty sure it was the first words I had ever heard her say.

“Coach,” Allison said. “Maybe it’s not safe. You know she’s epileptic.”

“Why doesn’t anybody tell me this stuff?” I bit my lip to keep from smiling. Apparently Coach didn’t pay attention to his students’ files.

“Erica, you’re fine. Just kick off from the wall,” Erica looked down. “There’s a mat to catch you,” Erica still hesitated. “Come on,” Finally Erica let go of the wall and slowly came down. Coach and I stepped forward to steady her. “See, you’re fine. You’re on the ground. You’re alright. Let’s go. Shake it off. You’re fine.”

“Come on,” I said. I led her away as the other students started snickering. “Just ignore them, Erica,” Tears began to fill her eyes as we headed towards the girls’ locker room. She started crying once the door closed.

“Now everyone thinks I’m scared of the rock wall,” she said as tears rolled down her face. “I’m not scared.” For some reason I just knew she wasn’t afraid of the wall.

“I know you’re not afraid of the wall. But what caused you to freeze like that?”

“I… I don’t know…,” Erica looked at me. “I don’t even know your name or why you’re being so nice to me.”

“My name’s Anna. And do I have to have a reason to be nice?”

Erica smiled. “I guess not. I’m fine. I don’t want to get you in trouble with Coach. I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?” Erica nodded. “Alright.” I went back out to class and told Coach she was going to sit out the rest of the class. Later, when we went to dress out, I noticed Erica wasn’t in the locker room. Several minutes later my phone went off.

“Yes, Scott?”

_Is Erica in there?_

“No, why?”

_I think she’s about to have a seizure._

“What?” I looked at Allison. “Allison, have you seen Erica?”

“Not, since you took her to the locker room. Why?”

“Are you sure?”

“Anna, I’m sure.” A sudden realization hit me.

“Oh, my God. Scott, she’s in gym!” I hung up and darted out of the locker room.

“Anna!” Allison followed me. I saw Scott sprint towards the rock wall as Erica fell. He caught her and laid her down. Allison knelt next to them. Erica was having a seizure, just like Scott had predicted.

“Put her on her side,” Allison said. “Put her on her side.” Scott rolled her on her side and grabbed her arms to keep them from flailing. “How’d you know?” she whispered.

“I just felt it,” he whispered back. Coach ran most of us off, but Allison, Scott, Stiles and I stayed and waited with Erica until the ambulance arrived.

 

Later, at lunch, I sat with Scott and watched Stiles come in and sit across from Boyd. I knew him from my math class. Another quiet kid that kept to himself. Stiles put something in front of Boyd and Boyd looked annoyed. They conversed before Stiles set something else in front of him.

“What the hell is Stiles doing now?” Scott looked up as Boyd stuffed a chip into his mouth and gave Stiles a “seriously?” look.

“Getting the keys to the ice rink for our double date tonight.”

“Oh.” Stiles set something else down in front of Boyd and the loner handed him a set of keys. Stiles joined us a minute later.

“Got ‘em,” He set the keys down next to Scott. “Pick you up right after work tonight and we’ll meet at the rink, cool?” Scott was suddenly distracted by something. Stiles and I both looked to see what he was looking at. A blond girl with a leather jacket, white tank, leather mini skirt and leopard print stiletto heels walked into the cafeteria. And we weren’t the only ones looking. Everyone’s eyes were on her as she flirted her way around the cafeteria, making eye contact with Scott before taking someone’s apple and taking a bite out of it.

“Is that…?” I started to ask.

“I think so,” Stiles said, astonishment in his voice. I didn’t even hear Lydia walk up to our table until she slammed her hands down.

“What in the holy hell is that?”

“It’s Erica,” Scott said. The now supermodel Erica walked out of the cafeteria, the apple in her hand. Wasn’t she just a homely looking, shy girl a few hours ago? Scott, Stiles and I got up and ran after her. We burst through the doors just in time to see Erica get into a black Camaro. Derek looked at us and grinned before speeding off. I pulled out my phone. I had to tell Trish about this.

 

**TRISH**

 

I looked down at my phone as it rang.

“Anna, you’re supposed to be in school.”

 _I think Derek has another Beta._ The words came quick and low.

“What?”

_Her name’s Erica. She went to the hospital earlier after having a seizure and then came back and looked like a freaking supermodel. She just left with Derek._

“Oh, crap,” I closed my locker. I was just about to leave as I had just finished my shift. What the hell was he doing?

_Scott said he needs to stop turning everyone._

“I know. I was there when he said that to Derek. Look, I’ll talk to Mr. Cocky and see what he’s doing. You go back to class.” I hung up and slung my purse over my shoulder. I waited until I was in my car before I dialed Derek.

_Yes?_

“What the hell are you doing?”

_Scott, Stiles or Anna?_

“Anna. You really shouldn’t be giving the Bite left and right.”

_The Bite would be to Erica’s advantage._

“Did you warn her about the disadvantages as well?”

_Of course. And she still wanted it._

“How big of a pack are you wanting? You have two Betas now. And only one has been through a full moon. Have you been able to teach Isaac how to control himself yet?”

_I’m working on it. And I need three._

“Three? What do you need three for?”

_Three is a strong pack. If Scott would join my pack, I’d have what I need._

“So you’re going to bite a third?”

_If Scott won’t join me, yes._

“How about I actually act like your Emissary and advise you. Wait until after the full moon to choose your third Beta. You don’t want three newly turned werewolves, two of them with no full moon prior to this one. Perhaps Isaac will have control by then, but if he doesn’t, you are not going to want to have to attempt to restrain three wolves with no control,”

_And you know so much about werewolves now._

“Derek, don’t be a cocky asshole about this. You will have your hands full on the next full moon as it is. You won’t be able to do three on your own.”

_I’m an Alpha._

“And there you go being a cocky asshole. Derek, will you please listen to advice for once?”

_Fine, fine. I’ll consider your advice._

“Thank you!” I heard Derek chuckle before he hung up.

 

I pulled into my driveway after work the next day. I had stopped by the gas station to fill up. I saw the light on in Anna’s room and I knew she was actually home for once. I locked the car and headed towards the front door.

“I have to say you keep up the curb appeal, Miss Roberts.” I jumped and spun around. And my heart nearly stopped. Standing at the end of my driveway was Gerard Argent. I’d only met him once but I knew his reputation well. I looked behind him and saw Chris and another Hunter standing across the street from my house in front of a black SUV.

“Can I help you?”

“Don’t pretend that you don’t know who I am. I am well aware of what you are and where your loyalties lie, Druid.” I’m dead. They’re going to kill me. I just know it.

“My loyalties lie with making sure my sister is doing her homework.”

“Ah that’s right. You’re mother passed away, didn’t she? Tell me, what supernatural thing killed her.” My nostrils flared and I could feel the anger.

“Unless cancer is now a supernatural thing, she wasn’t killed by the underworld of Beacon Hills.” His facial expression changed.

“My apologies, Miss Roberts. I didn’t not mean to offend you.”

“Sure you didn’t. Now that you’ve done what you obviously came to do, get off my property.”

“On the contrary. You’re coming with us.”

“Excuse me?” Gerard grabbed me by my arm. “Let go of me!” I wasn’t going to use my magic around the Hunters. It was bad enough that they knew I was a Druid, they didn’t need to know I could use magic as well and end up on Gerard’s shit list like the werewolves were. Chris opened the door to the backseat, giving me an apologetic look. I slid over to get out the other side, but another Hunter stopped me by getting into the SUV. I was blocked in. Chris got into the driver’s side and Gerard leaned into the window.

“Give them time and then come and get me.” Chris nodded and rolled the window up. I just knew they were going to take me somewhere and kill me. Or Chris had told them about my involvement with Peter’s death and my connection to Derek and they were going to use me to get to the Alpha. So many scenarios were running through my mind as I rode in a car full of Hunters. Imagine my surprise when we pulled up to the animal clinic.

“I’m already vaccinated, thank you for your concern.” One of my escort gave a scoff of laughter. Chris ignored me.

“Get them inside.”

“Who’s them?” I asked. I was pulled out of the SUV and I saw that another black SUV had joined us. They had the back open and pulled something out that took two men to carry. The Hunters basically broke into the clinic, causing the alarm to go off. They laid a man with gashes on his chest on the exam table. “You know I really don’t think anyone can help…,” I trailed off, recognizing the man. “Oh, God!”

“Yes, that’s right. Take a good look at what your world does to —”

“Bennett.” I knew the man well. We’d dated briefly in high school before we broke it off and Josh and I started dating. Yes, the same Josh that wolfed out on me when we kissed for the first time. I hadn’t dated anyone since he died. And now my Hunter ex-boyfriend was laying on a veterinary exam table just as dead as my werewolf boyfriend, who’d been murdered by Gerard’s daughter, who in turn had been killed by Josh’s uncle. Ahem… I’m getting sidetracked.

“Let go of her,” Chris said and the Hunter who had a death grip on my arm released me. Chris pulled me into another room. “You were Bennett’s ex-girlfriend, weren’t you?” I nodded, not able to find my voice. The other Hunters but one all passed us and went back outside. The alarm shut off and I heard footsteps. Chris stepped forward to lean against the door frame leading to the exam room and the Hunter that stayed grabbed my arm.

“I was wondering if you could give me your medical opinion on what killed this man,” Chris asked.

“I don’t know if you saw the sign out there,” Alan responded. “But this is just an animal clinic.”

“I’m aware of that. I’m also aware that you’re not just a vet,” He motioned to the Hunter to bring me in. “Just like I am aware that Trish isn’t just a nurse.” The Hunter let go of me once I was in the room with Chris and Alan. “I’m going to give the two of you an hour to determine what killed him. I’ll be back then. Only one hour.” Chris and the Hunter left and we waited until they drove away.

“How in holy hell are we supposed to determine what killed him? And how the hell did the Argents know I’m a Druid?”

“I don’t know. To both of those questions,” Alan turned to Bennett’s body. I hesitated. “Trish?”

“I haven’t seen him since graduation,” I said. “He’s barely changed. Well, aside from his chest being ripped apart.”

“We may not determine what killed him but we can determine the how.”

 

We were going over the body with a fine tooth comb, so to speak, when I noticed something on the back of Bennett’s neck.

“Alan, look at this,” I turned Bennett’s head so Alan could see. “Why make such a small nick on the back of the neck when it obviously has the power to rip through the ribcage?” Alan’s eyebrows knit together.

“Bennett wouldn’t have been able to defend himself.”

I looked up. “What am I missing here?”

“He was paralyzed. This knick was to deliver a toxin that paralyzed him.”

“But what can do that?”

Alan shook his head. “I’m not sure.” I heard the door open and I straightened. Had it been an hour already?

“Why aren’t you healing?” I heard Scott mutter. He walked into the room with his shirt raised, examining a slash on his left side.

“Because it’s from an Alpha,” Alan answered him. Scott looked up and immediately put his shirt down.

“You and Derek get into it?” Scott nodded and then saw the body on the table.

“Oh.” He looked between the two of us with fear on his face.

“I think maybe we better have that talk now.” Alan said.


	5. Kanima

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Argents open some old woulds. Trish, Derek, Stiles, and Scott come face to face with the new creature.

“They’re coming back so we don’t have much time to talk,” Alan said as he quickly reached for alcohol and bandages for Scott’s side.

“What is that?” Scott asked as Alan wet a gauze.

“Rubbing alcohol. You don’t want it to get infected, do you?” I chuckled as Scott shook his head. “It’ll heal the same, just not as quickly. Because of Derek.”

“Okay, how do you know all this? Actually, how do you know anything?” He pointed at me. “I know she knows because of Laura and Derek, but how do you know about this?”

“It’s a long story,” Alan simply said as I placed the bandage and Alan taped it on. “What I can tell you is that I know about your kind. Your kind,” He ripped off a piece of tape with his teeth. “I can help,” He applied the tape and I made sure the bandage was going to stay on. Alan turned back towards Bennett. “This…,” I straightened and pulled Scott’s shirt back down. “This is something different.”

“Well, do you know what did it?”

“Neither one of us knows,” I answered.

“But the Argents will,” Alan said. “And this is the crucial part. They’ll have some kind of record or book. It’ll have descriptions, histories, notations of all the things they’ve discovered.”

Scott’s jaw almost hit the floor. “All… all the things? How many different things are there?”

“Too many,” I responded. We heard a car pull up and a door shut. “You need to hide. Now.” Scott darted into the currently empty dog room as the front door opened and Alan and I went back to Bennett’s body. He started examining one of the claw marks as Chris and several Hunters entered the exam room.

“I’m starting to think I need to buy a more prominent ‘closed’ sign,” Alan remarked. Chris rolled his eyes and moved out of the doorway and Gerard walked into the room.

“Hello, Alan,” Alan took a step back, glancing between me, Chris and Gerard. He was looking very worried, much like I had been when Gerard basically kidnapped and dragged me here. “It’s been a while.”

“For good reason,” I muttered under my breath. Luckily, no one heard me.

“The last I heard, you had retired.”

“Last I heard, you followed a code of conduct.”

I scoffed and Gerard gave me a look.

“If you hadn’t noticed and if Trish hadn’t told you already, this body is one of ours,” Chris said.

“I did,” Alan said. “I already knew Trish was well acquainted with the deceased.”

“More than well acquainted with him,” Gerard said.

“How about you keep your nose out of my private life,” I quipped. Gerard only smiled.

“We also noticed the gunpowder residue on his fingertips,” I knew Alan was just trying to defuse the situation. “So don’t assume either one of us will be swayed by your philosophy just ‘cause we’ll answer a few questions.”

“They know I won’t,” I added, crossing my arms. I still hated the Argents, even though I now knew only one of them had carried out the arson, I wasn’t naïve enough to not think that the idea wasn’t influenced or instigated.

“He was only 24,” Chris said. He looked at me. “The same age as you, Trish.” I looked at Bennett. He was right. We were both 24, graduating in the same class. But I didn’t kill.

“Killers come in all ages,” Alan responded, echoing my thoughts and looking at Gerard as he said it. He knew as well as I did his reputation. And I’d told him about the Hunter’s recent incident with the innocent Omega. “And last I checked, Trish isn’t one.”

“All ages, sizes, shapes,” Gerard looked at me as he said it. I glared at him. At least I wasn’t teaching Anna to hate someone for being a werewolf. “It’s the last one that concerns us.”

“How about you tell us what you found?” Chris said. Alan moved to Bennett’s head.

“See this cut?” he asked, turning the head to where they could see the knick I’d found. Gerard put on a pair of glasses and examined it. “Precise. Almost surgical. But this isn’t the wound that killed him. This had a more interesting purpose.”

“Relating to the spine?” Gerard asked.

“Good guess,” I said, sarcastically.

“Whatever made this cut was laced with a paralytic toxin potent enough to disable all motor functions.”

I motioned to the slashes on Bennett’s chest. “These are what killed Bennett. Notice the patterns on each side?”

“Five, for each finger,” Chris said.

“Each claw,” Gerard corrected.

“As you can see,” Alan took up the explanation. “It dug in,” He motioned with his hands as he explained how Bennett died. “Slashed upward, eviscerating the lungs and slicing through the bone of the ribcage with ease.”

“Bennett didn’t have a chance with the toxin in his system,” I added.

“Have either one of you seen anything like this before?” Chris asked. I shook my head.

“Never.”

“No,” Alan answered.

“Any idea what killed him?”

“No, but I can tell you it’s fast, remarkably strong and has the capacity to render its victims essentially helpless within seconds.”

“If you’re saying we should be cautious, we get it.”

“I’m saying you should be afraid. Be very afraid.”

“Trish?”

“I’m going to agree with Alan. You should be terrified of it. In the natural world, predators with paralytic toxins use them to catch and eat their prey,” I motioned to Bennett. “He obviously wasn’t eaten.”

“That means whatever killed him only wanted to kill him. In fact, killing may be its only purpose.”

“Anyone can be its next victim. Hunter, supernatural, or innocent bystander. No one is safe.”

 

~~~

 

Alan gave me a ride home, since the Hunters had dragged me to the clinic to begin with.

“Are you alright?” he asked. “I know some old wounds were opened tonight.”

“I’ll... I’ll be fine. I think,” I sighed. “I guess I always expected Bennett to be killed by something he hunted, but I never expected it to be like that.”

“Did you always know he was a Hunter?”

“I didn’t find out ‘til after we’d broken up and I was dating Josh.” Oh, I promised to tell you the story about Josh Hale. I was two years older than him. He was the same age as Derek, born only a couple months apart. Josh was the son of Talia’s oldest brother. I was 13 and he was 11. I was waiting for Laura in the living room when Josh’s older sister dared him to kiss me, knowing he had a crush on me. I knew he had a crush on me. Hell, I think the whole family knew he had a crush on me. Then he kissed me. I hadn’t expected his eyes to suddenly start glowing yellow and fangs to come out. I had discovered that I had the gift of magic by that time, so I already knew that the world wasn’t as it seemed. Seeing Josh wolf out, a younger, human cousin screamed for Talia, which brought in Talia, Peter and Josh’s father. Peter had started laughing at the fact I was just staring at Josh as he struggled to control his shift like it wasn’t a big deal. Josh’s father immediately took him away all while Josh kept muttering “Alpha. Beta. Omega,” I got the crash course on the supernatural world and two years later I started dating Josh. Three years after that, Josh and most of the Hales were dead and I was left asking why. Alan brought me back to the present.

“I’m sorry, Trish. I didn’t mean to open up that wound.” Alan and Mom had been the only ones able to comfort me, knowing the truth. The fire had left a wound in Alan as well. It was also why I was still single, six years later.

“I don’t think it’ll ever heal.”

“I believe it’ll heal eventually. But the scars left over never will.” I nodded and looked out the window. Eleven people had been trapped inside, but I’d gotten a hold of the incident report. Eight people had died. With Peter being the only official survivor, it left two unaccounted for. I’d hoped for years that Josh would show back up but as the years passed, that hope waned. I think I was finally beginning to accept that he was gone.

 

~~~

 

“You’re going to do what?”

“Steal the principal’s keys and search his office for a bestiary.”

I rubbed my temples. “Okay, you want to steal the keys of Gerard Argent, who also happens to be your principal, so you can search his office for an encyclopedia of mythical creatures so we can find out what the hell we’re dealing with?”

“Yep, pretty much.”

I sighed. “Anna….”

“Stiles is going to be the one that does it anyway. Him and Scott won’t let me help. They said I have to help Allison keep an eye on Gerard.”

“Good, because I don’t want you to get suspended or worst.”

“Worst?”

“Gerard’s well aware that I’m a Druid, but he doesn’t know about my abilities or that I’m Derek’s Emissary. He’ll assume you’re a Druid as well because you’re my sister.”

“Wait, you’re Derek’s Emissary? What’s an Emissary?”

“A Druid that acts as pack adviser. And yes, I’m his Emissary. Although I’m pretty sure he doesn’t listen to my advice.” Anna giggled. We arrived at the game and we went to the lacrosse field. Gerard and Allison were already there, as was Stilinski and Melissa.

“This should be an interesting game,” I said as we sat behind Melissa and Stilinski. We could see Gerard and Allison from where we sat.

 

~~~

 

Number 9 went flying through the air, landing hard on his back.

“Holy crap!” Stilinski cried.

“Come on! Is that thing even a teenager!?” I heard Coach yell. “I wanna see a birth certificate!” Gerard stood and took off his coat, putting it on Allison. Smart girl, the old “I’m cold even though I’m already wearing a jacket” trick. I noticed that Erica was sitting behind them. Talk about irony. The big kid on the other team, number 42, slammed into two more Cyclone players. Anna brought my attention back to Allison and her grandfather. Stiles passed by them and then started looking around before disappearing from view.

“I guess he’s got the keys,” I whispered.

“Yep.” The EMTs took a Beacon Hills player off the field and a player with a camera bag holding a camera stopped next to Melissa.

“He belong to you?”

“No, mine is still on the field. While I’m here, really wishing that he would have stuck with tennis,” Melissa looked at the kid. “Are you the yearbook photographer?”

“No, I just take pictures.”

“Just lacrosse or other things?”

“Anything that catches my eye.” That didn’t sound stalkerish at all.

“You’re still short one player, Coach!” The referee called as Coach sent number 6 back onto the field.

“Where’s Stilinski?”

“Uh oh,” Anna muttered.

“Where’s Stilinski!?” Coach started to scan the crowd. “You!” He pointed to the kid sitting next to Erica. “You! You play lacrosse?” He looked at Erica before starting to stand. Erica grabbed his arm and said something to him. He made a comment back before standing and taking off his jacket. “Yeah. Oh, ho, ho, ho! We got ourselves a player!” The kid was put into gear and put on the field. Number 42 charged at the new player. He braced himself and the two collided. The other player flew backwards, the Beacon Hills kid didn’t move an inch. While the kid was a good size, 42 was still bigger than him. I snorted.

“I’m gonna kill him.”

“Who?”

“Derek.”

“Why?” I just gave her a look. “Oh!” Of course, Derek didn’t take my advice. Go figure. I was sure he was going to wish he had come the full moon. The crowd was going wild.

“The bigger they are, the bigger they are!” Coach yelled. Okay, that made no sense. But right now, I was more focused on the new werewolf on the field.

“Where’s Erica?” Anna suddenly asked. I looked over to where she and the other wolf had been sitting. Sure enough, Erica was missing. But I couldn’t worry about her right now. Scott ran up to his fellow werewolf and conversed for a minute. The whistle blew and the kid darted past Scott. Scott gave chase.

“Give it to McCall!” Coach shouted. “Give it to McCall!” The crowd was cheering Scott on. Scott made the goal, then was blindsided by 42. Scott landed hard and I was pretty sure something broke. Scott didn’t immediately get back up.

“Oh, God!” I took off, the instinct to protect the pack and its secret strong. Melissa was a few steps behind me. I reached him the same time as Allison. He was hurt bad.

“It’s fine. I’m healing. It’s okay.”

“Well you need to heal faster,” I whispered, examining his leg, which was broken. He looked at Allison.

“The book.”

“It’s not in his office. It’s gotta be at the house,” I straightened his leg out so the bone could set quicker. “Oh my, God, Scott. Your leg is broken.”

“Not for long.” He sat up and I helped him to his feet. Coach pushed his way through the crowd.

“Don’t move.”

“Scott,” Melissa was right behind him.

“He’s fine,” I said.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Scott confirmed, standing and putting weight on the formerly broken leg. “I’m fine,” he chuckled. “I’m fine.”

“I could have sworn I literally heard bone breaking from where I sat.” She looked at me.

“Heard it?” Coach asked. “I felt it.”

“I thought I did too. But his leg’s fine. No broken bones here.” Gerard was giving me an odd look like he could see right through my lie.

“Seriously, guys. I’m fine.” Allison joined her grandfather.

“We should go.”

“Hold on. I wanna ask him one more thing,” I’m pretty sure my heart was going to beat out of my chest. “Would you like to join us for dinner?” Okay, scratch that. Make that major heart attack.

“Uh…”

“Go ahead, Scott,” Melissa said. “I can get a ride to work from Trish. Just remember to pick me up.”

“Um, okay, Mom.”

 

~~~

 

I dropped Melissa off at work and Anna and I headed home.

“Stiles isn’t answering his phone,” she said as we walked into the house. I tried Derek and it went straight to his voicemail.

“That’s weird,” I said. “Derek always answers his phone.”

“Why are you calling Derek?”

“Well, for starters, making sure his Beta got home alright.” I suddenly frowned. Something didn’t feel right.

“Trish?”

“I… I just got this weird feeling. I can’t explain it.”

“What kind of feeling?”

“A bad one in the pit of my stomach. I had this same feeling right before we found out Peter was the Alpha and he kicked mine and Derek’s asses. And right before Mom told us,” Something in my gut told me I needed to go back to the school. “Anna, stay here, I’m going back to the school.”

“But…”

“Don’t but me in this, Anna.”

“Fine.” I ran out to the Renegade and took off.

 

~~~

 

“Stiles!” The principal’s office door was wide open, the keys still in the lock. “Stiles, where the hell are you?” I heard a screech. “What the hell was that?” I stepped into the hall and listened.

“No!” Derek’s shout echoed. And there was only one place that echoed like that. I ran towards the pools and sure enough I heard splashing. What the hell was Derek and Stiles doing in the pool? “Stiles!” I heard another screech. I walked into the area where the pools were and saw no one. A few seconds later, Stiles popped out of the water with Derek. But something wasn’t right. I knew for a fact that Derek was a very good swimmer. It made no sense for… I heard a hiss. What the hell was that?

“Tell me you got him!” Derek gasped. My eyes searched the area but I couldn’t see what was making the hissing noise. I saw Erica and darted over to her. She was unconscious but alive. “Trish! Get outta here!” Derek called. “Now!” I heard the hiss behind me.

“Look out!” Stiles cried. I spun around, instinctively sending a force blast out of my hand. This lizard like thing flew backwards and hit the wall.

“What the hell is that and why are you two in the pool?”

“It can’t swim.”

“It can’t swim or is it afraid of the water?” The lizard screeched as I backed up towards the space between the pool Derek and Stiles were in and another pool. I held my hand over the water and made a spinning motion, bringing some water out of the pool. If it was afraid of the water, I was going to trap it. Note to self: Start carrying Mountain Ash. The lizard started to charge at me and I brought up a wall of water between me and it. It stopped in its tracks and began to back up. I wasn’t exactly sure how long I was going to be able to hold the water barrier up, but I was sure it would be long enough for Derek and Stiles to get out of the pool.

“Get out of the pool,” I took a few steps forward, trapping it against the wall. It screeched at me.

“Easier said than done,” Stiles said.

“What?” I looked over my shoulder. Derek wasn’t moving his body at all. I realized then why Stiles was holding him up. “You let it knick you!?” Derek was paralyzed from the neck down.

“Well, not on purpose.” My eyes changed color as I drew more of my magic.

“Stiles! Get him out of the pool and get the hell out of here!”

“How long can you hold that?”

“I don’t know,” The lizard batted at the water, screeching and hissing. I heard splashing behind me. I was using too much magic. I took a step back. “I can’t hold it much longer!” The barrier was weakening. I couldn’t hold it any more without passing out. It, and I, collapsed. I knew it was going to come after me now. A second later, I heard a long and loud roar. I looked over my shoulder and saw Scott, fully transformed, on one of the diving boards. Derek and Stiles were on the floor behind him. The lizard decided that Scott was the bigger threat and went after him. I scrambled towards Derek and Stiles as the two creatures roared at one another. The paralysis seemed to be beginning to wear off as Derek moved his arm. I heard a crash and looked up to see the lizard had thrown Scott against a mirror. It started to move towards Scott and the teen wolf grabbed a shard of the broken mirror. Derek could now move his upper body and dragged himself to the diving board. Stiles sat up.

“Trish, do something,” he said.

“I can’t,” I said breathlessly. The lizard caught sight of its reflection and stopped, turning its head from side to side. Scott looked at the shard, puzzled. The lizard then screeched, jumped over Scott onto the wall, climbed across the ceiling and jumped through the sky light above the pools. Scott looked over at us. Derek was bracing himself on the diving board. All three of us were panting, they from nearly drowning, me from the use of my magic. Scott gave a breath of relief and dropped the shard. He returned to his human form as Stiles stood.

“How much feeling do you have?” I asked Derek as Scott approached us.

“I’ll have it all back in a couple minutes.” I nodded.

“You guys okay?” Scott asked. I nodded.

“We are now.”

“We figured out where the bestiary is,” Scott said. “It’s on a flash drive on his keys.”

“Go get the flash drive. Start trying to figure out what it is.” I helped Derek to his feet as the boys left.

“What was that?”

“A lizard that seems to be afraid of water and is confused by its reflection.”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

I sighed. “You knew I have magic.”

“Yes, I did. But I have never seen you do anything like that. And when did your eyes start changing color?”

“We should go wake your Beta up from her nap.”

“Trish.” I turned back to him. I had heard that tone many, many times. But never from Derek.

“You just sounded exactly like Talia,” I saw the pain in his eyes at the mention of his mother. “My eyes started turning several years ago. I’ve grown stronger since the fire,” I sighed. “It’s because of my protective instinct.” _Because I’m an Eamonn._ I was keeping it from my Alpha as much as I was keeping it from everyone else. It was to protect them as much as it was to protect me from Hunters. Erica was now sitting up, rubbing her head.

“Have a nice nap?” Derek asked. She looked up at him and he crouched down next to her. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” He stood and offered a hand towards her. She took it and he helped her to her feet. We started to leave when Derek stopped at the shards of mirror, picking up one that had a clear liquid on it.

“I know what it is.”

 

~~~

 

“Is that even a language?” Stiles was asking as we approached them. He and Scott had a laptop on the hood of Melissa’s car. “How are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?”

“It’s called the Kanima,” Derek informed them. For a Druid, I wasn’t very well versed in all the supernatural creatures out there. I knew about werewolves and other canine shape-shifters, but Kanimas were new to me.

“You knew the whole time,” Stiles didn’t sound very pleased.

“No. Only when it was confused by its own reflection.”

“It doesn’t know what it is,” Scott said.

“Or who.”

“What else do you know?” Stiles asked.

“Just stories. Rumors.”

“But it’s like us?” Scott asked.

“On the Argents’ radar? Yes.” Derek gave me a look.

“It’s a shape-shifter, yes. But it’s… it’s not right. It like a…” Derek tried to think of something to describe the Kanima.

“An abomination,” Stiles finished. Derek looked at him and then nodded. He then looked at Erica and the two turned to leave.

“Derek,” The Alpha turned back to Scott. “We need to work together on this. Maybe even tell the Argents.”

“You trust them?”

“Scott, we’ve already been over this.” I didn’t want to admit that Scott had a point. The Argents had the experience and know-how to stop the Kanima, even if their methods might be a bit on the lethal side.

“Nobody trusts anyone. That’s the problem. While we’re here arguing about who’s on what side, there’s something scarier, stronger and faster than any of us and it’s killing people! And we still don’t know anything about it!” There Scott went again. Sounding like an Alpha. I looked at Derek. I knew that look. That anger he always had now was beginning to show.

“I know one thing. When I find it,” He turned and started to walk away. “I’m gonna kill it.” I looked at Scott before I followed Derek.

“Derek,” He kept walking towards his Camaro. “Derek!” I put my hand on his door and he just looked at me. “Scott has a point.”

“You want to trust the Argents, too?”

“I’ll never trust the Argents. You asked me to be your Emissary. I’m advising you now. You need to trust Scott. We need to work together to stop the Kanima. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’”

“You’re going to quote ancient proverbs to me?”

“You obviously need to hear it. We can try this on our own, but if we can’t stop the Kanima, as much as I hate to say it, we may have no choice but to work with someone with a common enemy. Just think about it, Derek. Actually think about it before you let your emotions get yourself or your pack killed by this thing. And give us time to actually figure out its weaknesses.” Derek took me by my arms and moved me to the side.

“I _will_ kill it. And I will find out who it is.” Derek squealed the tires as he drove off.


	6. Maintaining the Balance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trish and Scott try to convince Derek that Lydia isn't the Kanima. Anna, Allison, Stiles and Jackson try to protect Lydia from Derek's pack.

I collapsed on the couch when I got home. I was still weak from overusing my magic, the adrenaline from facing off with a creature that could paralyze and then tear me to shreds was wearing off. So much was happening in such a short time. Being dragged back into this world. Anna being dragged into it. My protective instincts going into overdrive lately. Derek making me his Emissary. Derek not listening to his Emissary. Laura and Peter’s deaths. Mom’s death. Josh and the other Hales’ deaths. I looked up at my favorite picture I kept on the mantle. It was taken by Mom at a Fourth of July event. Anna, Laura, Derek, Paige, Josh and I were huddled together. Paige was Derek’s girlfriend at the time. Josh, Derek and Paige were all fifteen. Laura and I were seventeen and Anna was nine. It was the last photo of Derek before his personality changed. I got up and took the picture down. Derek had a genuine smile and Paige had her hand on his cheek, a grin on her face. Anna was laughing and Laura was hugging her from behind, smiling at the camera. Josh was smiling and I was laughing. He’d actually said “Chuck E. Cheese” before Mom took the picture. I sat back on the couch. Most of the people in the photo were dead now. Paige. Josh. Laura. Everything from the past several years just pushed its way to the surface. I pulled my legs up, holding the photo to my chest. I had thought I was healing but my inner strength was waning at this moment. I had to be the strong one. For Anna. Mom had told me I needed to be her strength when she was gone. I needed to be the leader of the family. Be the mentor. Not that I had exactly been the perfect role model over the years.

“Trish?” I looked over towards Anna. She was wearing the tank top and leggings she wore as pajamas.

“Anna, what are you doing up? I thought you were in bed.”

“Are you okay?” Anna had a worried look on her face. “Why are you crying?” I hadn’t even realized I was. I quickly wiped away my tears.

“I’m fine.” Anna sat next to me on the couch.

“No, you’re not,” She reached up and pulled the frame I had against my chest down so she could see it. “You miss Josh, don’t you?”

I nodded. “And Laura. And Peter. And Mom,” Despite the fire turning him into a vicious and vengeful killer, I missed Uncle Peter. “Especially Mom right now.”

“I miss Mom and Peter, too,” She wrapped her arms around me. “I wish Mom was here to tell us what we should do. I miss talking to Peter.” I saw the tear fall as she spoke of Peter and I wiped it away. I knew it had devastated her when I had to break the news to her that her beloved Peter had been killed by Derek. She adored him and I knew that she’d fallen for him with the way she interacted with him at Macy’s when he helped her pick out a dress for the Winter Formal. She hadn’t spoken about it, but I knew she was still hurting. Just like I was with Josh. Anna looked up at me.

“Why did he have to kill Peter?” she asked. “Was it for the power?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. Just like I don’t know why Josh and the rest of the Hales had to die that night. Why Mom…” I couldn’t finish my sentence because I broke down, pulling Anna close. I never got to properly mourn Mom, focusing on Anna’s well-being. But Gerard being back and declaring war and Bennett being killed by the Kanima brought back all the painful memories and I couldn’t be strong anymore. Not even for Anna.

 

**ANNA**

 

I hadn’t seen Trish cry like that since the fire. And I hadn’t seen her cry period since Mom died. I cried almost every night since Peter had died. I was still upset at Derek for killing him. And I was upset at him now for piling the responsibility of pack advisor on Trish and then not listening to her advice. Trish and I talked for a while about Peter and Josh. And she also told me about what happened at the pools. That they’d figured out that the lizard thing Allison, Scott and I had seen at Isaac’s house was called a Kanima, but we still didn’t know what exactly it was. Trish dropped me off at school that Monday before she headed to work. I headed to my first class, avoiding most my friends. Lydia was at the Guidance Office, talking to Ms. Morrell like she did twice a week since the naked hike. I hadn’t seen Stiles or Allison, but nearly ran into Scott.

“Sorry, Scott.”

“It’s okay. You alright?”

“I’m fine. Why?”

“You just seem to be down.”

“Stop using your abilities on me.”

“I couldn’t help it. Is Trish okay? Stiles told me what she did the other night.”

“Mostly. She told me about what you guys discovered.”

“Yeah, we’ve been trying to research it but we’re having a problem with the bestiary.”

“You found it? Wait, what do you mean problem?”

“It’s in archaic Latin.”

“Oh.” We walked into class and we both just stopped and stared. Isaac was sitting in his desk. “Uh…,” Scott took his seat, not taking his eyes off the other werewolf. I sat two desks behind Isaac, saving the seat behind Scott and across from me for Stiles. I was staring as well. If the Argents knew he was here… Stiles came bounding into the room and sat behind Scott.

“Dude, I just talked to my dad who just talked to Jackson and I’ve got really terrible, horrible, very, very bad news.”

“Stiles..,” I started to say. Scott turned in his seat to Stiles, trying to hush him before motioning towards Isaac.

“I think I already know.” Stiles looked over at Isaac. I could feel the smugness coming off him.

“Settle down, class,” the teacher said as the bell rang. “Get out your books and turn to page 342. And Mr. Lahey, I’m expecting you to make up the work and tests you missed during your absence.”

 

~~~

 

I walked out with Scott and Stiles.

“Alright, I only found one thing online called the Kanima," Stiles said. "It’s a werejaguar from South America that goes after murderers.”

“That thing was not a jaguar,” Scott said.

“Not unless jaguars suddenly have scales,” I quipped.

“Yeah, and I’m not exactly a murderer," Stiles argued. "Neither is Trish.”

“It went after Trish?” I asked.

“It started to before she did that water thing.”

“But you did see it kill somebody," Scott reminded him. "Which is why it tried to kill you.”

“That doesn’t explain why it had Trish in its sights.”

“Was she trying to protect you and Derek?” I asked.

“I think so….”

“There ya go.”

“You know it’s probably still trying to kill you,” Scott mused. “And it probably won’t stop until you’re dead.” Stiles and I stopped and just looked at Scott as he kept walking.

“Seriously?” I looked at Stiles, who was giving Scott a dirty look before following him.

“You know, sometimes I really begin to question this ‘friendship’.” Stiles threw up the finger quotes and I couldn’t help but laugh. I jogged after them.

“Hey, wait. What water thing did Trish do?”

 

~~~

 

I was sitting behind Stiles in our next class, when Jackson came in and sat behind Scott. Which he never did. What the hell did he want?

“Hey, testicle left and right,” I looked up from my book at Stiles and Scott. They both looked up and I could see the annoyance on Scott’s face. “What the hell is a Kanima?” They looked at each other before turning to Jackson, surprised looks on their faces. I’m sure I had the same look. Who the hell told him about the Kanima? Coach slammed his book on his desk and our attention went back to the front.

“Alright, listen up,” he said. “A quick warning before we begin our review. Some of you, like McCall,” Scott looked up at Coach and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “Might want to start their own study groups because tomorrow’s midterm is so profoundly difficult… I’m not even sure I could pass it. Okay, I need a volunteer at the board to answer the first question. Who’s got it, huh?” Several hands raised. “Come on. Let’s go, buddy.”

“How did you know?” I whispered as Coach picked someone from the other side of the room.

“Derek. Isaac and Erica held me down and Derek dripped something off a mirror into my mouth. Isaac and Erica were saying something about Lydia in the hall just now. I was paralyzed from the neck down. Do you have any idea what that feels like?”

“I’m familiar with the sensation,” Stiles said. Jackson gave him a dirty look.

“Wait,” Scott whispered. “Why would Derek test you? Why would he think it’s you?”

“How should I know?”

“Wait, do they think it’s Lydia?” Stiles asked.

“Why would they think it’s Lydia?” I asked. “I don’t know. All I heard was her name and something about chemistry.”

“Jackson!” Coach yelled, making all four of us jump. “Do you have something you want to share with the rest of the class?”

“Um…,” Jackson looked around and I gave him a look when his eyes fell on me. “Just an undying admiration for my… my coach.” I had to put my fist over my mouth to keep Coach from seeing the smile and it was taking everything not to actually laugh at Jackson’s brownnosing.

“That’s really kind of you,” Coach said. Jackson smiled. “Now shut up! Shut it!” I lowered my head behind Stiles to hide the fact I was silently laughing. “Anybody else?” Coach walked off and Scott grabbed Stiles’ shirt and pulled him towards him.

“How do we know it’s not her?” he whispered.

“Because I looked into the eyes of that thing, okay? And what I saw was pure evil. And when I look into Lydia’s eyes, I only see 50% evil.”

“Are you kidding me?” I muttered.

“Alright maybe 60. You know, no more than 40 on a good day.”

My head hit my arms. “Not helping.”

“Anna’s right, Stiles,” Scott agreed. “That’s not a very good argument.” Stiles sighed and my attention went to Lydia at the board.

“I’m aware of that but I swear it’s not her,” Lydia was writing all over the board. “It can’t be alright. Lydia’s fine.”

“You might want to rethink that statement, Stiles,”

“Huh?” Stiles turned to me and I pointed at the board. Lydia had literally written something all over the board. She looked like she was having a mental breakdown. I couldn’t tell what she had written all over the board. Coach was calling her name. Lydia suddenly gasped, tears streaking her mascara and looked around. I exchanged looks with Scott, Stiles and Jackson. It was as if she’d come out of a trance.

“Okay, then. Anybody else want to try answering?” Coach turned to the class. “This time in English?” Everyone but the four of us laughed and Lydia spun around. Stiles took out his phone.

“What is that?” Scott asked. “Greek?”

“No, actually, I think it is English.” He held up his phone where we could see the photo he’d just taken of the board. He flipped the photo around and I saw that Lydia had written “Someone help me” mirrored all over the board. Why would she write that?

 

~~~

 

“Derek is not gonna kill her without proof,” Scott said as we walked into the chemistry room.

“Alright, so he tests her like he did with Jackson, right? But when and where?” Erica and Isaac walked into the room and set their sights on Lydia.

“Here and now.” I said. Derek’s pack hesitated a moment before starting towards Lydia. Scott and Stiles darted to her, sitting on either side of her. I rolled my eyes and went and sat next to Allison, who gave Scott a questioning look. I pulled her close and whispered into her ear what was going on. She looked back at Erica, who gave her a smug look. Isaac was staring daggers at Scott. And to think, I thought he was a nice guy. Turn him into a werewolf and he turns into a jackass. Mr. Harris started class.

“Einstein once said ‘Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity and I’m not sure about the universe’,” Great, another day of being treated like we had Forrest Gump IQs. “I myself have encountered infinite stupidity,” I rolled my eyes as he patted Stiles on the shoulder. “So to combat the plague of ignorance in my class, you’re going to combine efforts through a round of group experiments. Let’s see if two heads are indeed better than one. Or in Mr. Stilinski’s case, less than one,” Stiles looked like he was ready to punch Harris in the face. _I_ was ready to punch Harris in the face. “Erica, you take the first station. You’ll start with…,” he scanned the room. Every male student’s hand, with the exception of Scott, Stiles and Isaac, shot into the air. Erica looked pleased and Isaac looked amused. “I didn’t ask for volunteers. Put your hormonal little hands down. Start with Mr. McCall. Alright next two.” Erica gave him a sultry smile, then she gave Allison a look. Allison looked away. I looked between the two, realizing what Erica was doing. Everyone was paired off and Allison started off with Lydia and I started off with Isaac.

“You’ve changed too much,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

I measured the chemical. “I thought you were a nice guy when we met at the dance. Now you get a bite and you’re as much of an asshole as Derek.”

“Do you know what it’s like to be powerless,” Then he chuckled. “Of course you do. You’re human.”

“I know why you accepted. But it didn’t give you the right to become an asshole.”

“Join a pack and you can be a bitch.”

“Like Erica?”

Isaac chuckled. “Maybe then, you’ll catch someone’s eye. I know you can look beautiful.” I glared at him and snorted and he grinned. A bell rang.

“Switch.” I paired with Allison next.

“I don’t like this,” I said when we sat.

“I know.”

“Maybe I should bring Trish into this.”

“Why?” I really didn’t want to tell them that it was because she was Derek’s Emissary. I didn’t even know if they knew what an Emissary was.

“She can talk to Derek. Talk him out of whatever he’s planning.”

“It’s Derek. He does what he wants. Especially now that he’s an Alpha.”

“Trish is one of the few people he’ll halfway listen to. Okay, maybe the only person now he’ll halfway listen to.” The bell rang again.

“Switch.” I saw Isaac paired with Lydia.

“Ah, crap,” I muttered. Stiles started to get up and Harris slammed his pointer down on the desk.

“If you’re trying to test my patience, Mr. Stilinski, I guarantee it’ll be a failing grade.” My partner and I worked on the final leg of the experiment and I kept looking over at Isaac and Lydia.

“You like him, don’t you?” my partner asked.

“What?”

“It’s that bad boy vibe, isn’t it?” She looked over at Isaac. “Not to mention he seems to have gotten hotter.”

“Uh…”

“You know I actually thought you two were together when I saw you at the dance.”

“No…”

“So you don’t mind if I ask him out?”

“Why would I care?”

“So you don’t have a crush on him?”

“No.”

“Ah.” The bell dinged.

“Time. If you’ve catalyzed the reaction correctly, you should now be looking at a crystal.” I reached into the beaker with the tongs and pulled out the crystal.

“Cool,” my partner said. Stiles held up his beaker and I saw foam and Scott with a “oh, crap” look on his face. Isaac pulled out the crystal.

“Now, for the last part of the experiment I’m sure you’ll all enjoy, you can eat it.” I offered the crystal to my partner and she broke it in half, offering me the other half. We both took a bite of it.

“Lydia!” Scott jumped up and we all looked at him.

“What?” she asked, looking at him annoyed. I had no idea why Scott suddenly reacted like that. He looked around.

“Nothing,” he quickly sat down and Lydia bit into the crystal. And then I noticed the familiar black Camaro outside.

“Ah, crap,” I muttered, realizing that Isaac had put the Kanima venom on the crystal. Lydia didn’t react at all. Scott and I exchanged looks. Operation Protect Lydia is a go.

 

~~~

 

Scott, Stiles, Allison and I slipped into Coach’s office.

“Derek’s outside waiting for Lydia,” Scott said.

“Waiting to kill her?” Allison asked.

“Lydia didn’t react to the Kanima venom. He has to think it’s her,” I said.

“Yes,” Scott agreed. “Especially after what happened at the pool.”

“It’s not her!” Stiles insisted.

“Stiles, she didn’t pass the test, man. Nothing happened.”

“No, it can’t be her.”

“It doesn’t matter if Derek thinks it’s her,” Allison looked at me. “Do you really think Trish can convince him he’s wrong?”

“I hope so,” I dug through my bag for my phone. “Do we have a Plan B if she can’t?”

“Figure out a way to protect her.”

“Great plan. Very detailed.”

“I really don’t think he’ll do anything here. Not at school.”

“What about after school?”

“Great point,” I pulled my phone out and dialed Trish, stepping away as they continued to discuss how to protect Lydia.

_Anna, I know you can’t be on your phone during school._

“Kinda an emergency, Trish.”

_What’s wrong?_

“Derek tested Lydia and now he thinks she’s the Kanima and he’s going to kill her if we can’t convince him that she’s not the Kanima.”

Trish dropped the f-bomb. _That’s not a good sign. Well, with my track record lately, I don’t know if I can convince him otherwise. Scott’s going to also have to convince him and the rest of you are going to have to keep her in your sights, especially once school lets out._

“We’re working on that.”

“Oh, you mean the 900 page book written in archaic Latin that none of us can read!? Good luck with that.”

“You don’t happen to be able to read archaic Latin, can you?”

_I can’t even read classic Latin. Look, I’ll talk to Derek, but you know how he is once he has his mind set. Is he at the school?_

“Yeah, I think he’s waiting until after school to do it.”

_Then I have an hour to convince him before I have to go back to work. Anna, just get her some place safe._

“We will,” I hung up.

“Actually, I think I might know someone who might be able to translate it.” Allison said.

“I can talk to Derek, maybe convince him to give us a chance to prove that it’s not her.”

“Trish is going to talk to him too. Maybe between the two of you, he’ll back down a hair and give us a chance.”

“If anything happens, you guys let me handle it, okay?”

“What does that mean?” Allison looked offended.

“It means you can’t heal like I do,” Allison gave him a look. “I just don’t want you getting hurt.” Allison pulled out a handheld crossbow out of her bag and held it up.

“How the hell were you able to bring that into school?”

“I can protect myself,” I chuckled and Scott had this odd look on his face. “What?” She set the crossbow down. “Did something else happen?”

“I just don’t want you getting hurt. Seriously, if anything goes wrong, you call me, okay? I don’t care if your dad finds out. Call, text, scream, yell, whatever. I’ll hear you and I’ll find you as fast as I can,” Allison nodded and Stiles picked up Allison’s crossbow. “We have until 3.” Allison nodded again and Scott turned away and headed towards the door. Stiles pressed the trigger on the crossbow and the bolt flew towards Scott’s head. Scott spun around and caught the bolt with his lightning fast reflexes. I was gaping and Allison sighed and looked at Stiles, holding her hand out. He handed her the crossbow.

“Sorry. Sorry.”

“Jeeze, Stiles! Are you trying to kill him?”

“It’s a sensitive trigger on that.” Allison put the crossbow back into her bag.

 

**TRISH**

 

“What have I told you about growling at me?” Derek had, once again, growled when he answered the phone. “I don’t care if you’re an Alpha now, don’t growl at me.”

_What do you want, Trish?_

“Why is it I have to keep finding out about your shenanigans from my sister?”

_What did she tell you this time?_

“That you’ve targeted an innocent teenaged girl because she didn’t pass your Kanima test. I told you to give us time.”

_I’m eliminating a threat._

“Yes, because Lydia is such a huge threat. Give us time to truly determine if she’s the Kanima.”

_So she can kill again? No._

“Then let me determine what she knows. Wolves aren’t the only ones that can access memories.”

_You can do Memory Transference?_

“So to speak. Let me do it to Lydia.”

_No._

“What do you mean, no?”

_Do I need to spell it out for you?_

“Derek!”

_She’s the Kanima. End of story._

“Because you can’t explain why she’s not a wolf, so that automatically makes her the enemy. And why the hell did you ask me to be your Emissary when you won’t listen to my advice,” Derek didn’t answer. “Hello?” I looked at my phone and saw that he’d hung up. Luckily, I was at the school. I pulled up behind his Camaro and I saw him roll his eyes. I slammed the door shut. “You hung up on me because you know I’m right.” Derek didn’t say a word, only turned and walked towards the lacrosse field. We reached it as Scott got off of Derek’s third Beta, whose name I still didn’t know.

“She failed the test,” Derek said, making Scott jump. He looked at me, giving me a questioning look.

“Yeah, which doesn’t prove anything. Lydia’s different.”

“I know, at night she turns into a homicidal walking snake.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” I countered.

“I’m not going to let you kill her!”

Derek looked at his Beta, who smiled. “Who said I was going to do it?” Scott then realized that he was sending Erica and Isaac to kill Lydia.

“Derek! Ella es inocente! Usted sabrá una vez que sus Betas vuelven con los ojos azules!” Yes, I’m fluent in Spanish. Just like Derek. And there were things that the two Betas with us didn’t need to know right now.

“Ella no es inocente, Trish. Ella nos atacó y habría matado a todos si no ha utilizado agua en su contra.” Scott started to take off and the Beta slammed him into the ground.

“¿Confías en mí para ser su emisario o no?” I switched back to English as Scott coughed from the breath being knocked out of him. “Let me prove it, Derek! Call them off!”

“I don’t know why you think you have to protect everyone now, Scott. Trish can’t seem to help it, but you?” He shrugged. I gave him a look. “But even so, Lydia has killed people and she’s gonna do it again and next time it’s gonna be one of us.”

“Why are you so convinced that it’s Lydia?” I asked.

“She was bitten by an Alpha. It’s her.”

“You saw that thing up close," Scott said. "You know it’s not like us.”

“But it is!” Derek motioned to himself, the Beta and Scott. “We’re all shape-shifters. You don’t know what you’re dealing with!”

“Do you?” I asked. “You act like you know all the answers. Or is that part of your power trip, Derek? Keeping what you know to yourself?”

Derek glared at me. “It happens rarely and it happens for a reason.”

“What reason?” Scott asked.

“The shape you take reflects the person that you are,” Derek and I said at the same time. It was something that was always explained to the younger Hale Betas. Right along with “We’re predators, but we don’t have to be killers” Derek looked at me before stepping forward and helping Scott, who’d been on the ground the entire conversation, to his feet.

“Even Stiles calls her cold blooded.”

“I could say that about your other two Betas.” The Beta’s lips quirked like he was trying not to smile at that.

“What if she’s immune?” Scott asked. I’d never actually considered that. Derek looked at him puzzled. He obviously hadn’t considered that either. “What if she’s got something inside of her that makes her immune to the Bite, which is why she didn’t get paralyzed?”

“No one’s immune! I’ve never seen it or heard of it.”

“Doesn’t mean it isn’t possible,” I countered.

“It’s… it’s never happened.”

“She could be the first.”

“What about Jackson?”

What?” I looked at Derek. The scowl came across his face and I knew that Scott was telling the truth. “You bit Jackson!? What the hell is wrong with you!?”

“That’s why you tested him, isn’t it?” Derek looked over at me like I was going to help.

“Don’t look at me, dumbass,” The Beta blinked at me, no doubt surprised at me daring to call his Alpha a dumbass. “You’re the one who bit the arrogant jackass.”

“Because you gave him what he wanted, didn’t you?”

“Scott…”

“Peter said the Bite either kills you or turns you. You were probably hoping that he would die,” The Beta looked at Derek. “But nothing happened, right? And you have no idea why, do you?”

“Scott,” I warned. It was one thing for me to push his buttons, I’d been doing it for years and knew what would set him off, but it was a whole other story for Scott to be doing it. Derek snorted and I knew that Scott had pushed too far.

“No,” Derek growled.

“Well, I have a theory. Lydia’s immune and somehow she passed it on to Jackson.”

“You can’t pass on an immunity that way, Scott. Do you pay attention in science class at all?”

“You both know I’m right.”

“No!”

“You cannot do this!” My phone vibrated and I saw a message from Anna.

 

_We’re taking Lydia to Scott’s. Hoping we’ll be fairly safe there._

I gave a small smile. _Good. Keep an eye on her_

 

“Look, I can’t let her live! You should have known that!” He looked at me. “Both of you!”

“I was hoping we would convince you, but then… we weren’t counting on it.” Derek looked between the two of us, a puzzled look on his face. And that, folks, is how an Eamonn protects an innocent life and a Druid maintains the balance.

 

**ANNA**

 

We had a plan, thanks to Trish. She called back and talked to Scott, helping us hatch a plan to protect Lydia, despite the fact she would be going against the wishes of her Alpha. She called it maintaining the balance. Allison in turn recruited Jackson’s help. Which was why Stiles, Jackson, Allison and I were escorting Lydia out of the library.

“If we’re doing a study group,” Lydia asked. “Why didn’t we just stay in the library?”

“Because we’re meeting up with somebody else,” Stiles explained.

“Well, why doing they just meet us in the library?”

“Oh, that would’ve been a great idea! Too late.”

“Okay, hold on…” Lydia stopped and Jackson grabbed her arm.

“Lydia, shut up and walk.” Allison, Stiles and I glanced at each other as Jackson marched her out the door.

“Aggressive much?” I said, looking behind me for Erica, Isaac, Boyd or even Derek. I really wouldn’t put it past him to be in the school despite the fact that he wasn’t a teenager. We piled into Stiles’ Jeep and I sent Trish a quick message.

 

_We’re taking Lydia to Scott’s. Hoping we’ll be fairly safe there._

_Good. Keep an eye on her_

 

Stiles sped off and I was really hoping that Scott and Trish succeeded in either convincing Derek of Lydia’s innocence or distracting him long enough for us to get to Scott’s before him.

 

~~~

 

We made it to Scott’s and none of us saw any sign of Derek or his pack. Or Scott for that matter. I knew we were going to be on our own. Trish was going to have to go back to work. She couldn’t afford to lose her job just because she was an Emissary.

“If we’re studying at Scott’s house, then where’s Scott?” Lydia asked.

“Meeting us here, I think. I hope,” Stiles said.

“Very confident there, chief,” I said. Once inside, Stiles locked every lock on the door and then checked outside. I was pretty sure that was not going to keep Derek out if he really wanted to get in. Lydia was looking at him like he’d lost his mind. Jackson rolled his eyes.

“Uh… There’s been a few break-ins around the neighborhood.” Lydia nodded with a tight lipped smile. Stiles then grabbed a chair and braced the door with it.

“Holy hell,” I muttered. Lydia motioned at the chair.

“And a murder,” And I wanted to either hit him in the head with the baseball bat or myself. Okay, Stiles. Definitely Stiles. Allison scratched her head and tried to hide the smile. Jackson snorted. “Yeah, it was bad.” Allison looked at Jackson and then nodded her head up the stairs.

“Lydia, follow me,” Jackson said. “I need to talk to you for a minute.”

“Seriously?” Lydia asked as she followed Jackson upstairs. “What is going on with everyone?”

“Murder? Really?” I asked when they disappeared upstairs.

“What? Has Trish sent anything back?”

I looked at my phone and saw I had a couple of texts. “Derek’s pissed at her for working with Scott. She says they’re going to look for us and to try to hold them off until either Scott gets here or she gets off work.”

“Derek’s like a brother to her. Would she use that magic of hers against him?”

“I’m not sure,” I looked out the window. “Shit.” Allison looked over my shoulder. Derek and his entire pack were standing across the street.

“Stiles, give me your phone,” Stiles handed Allison the phone and she dialed. “It’s me. You need to get here now. Right now.” I kept my eye on them while Allison talked to Scott. It was getting dark.

“When does Trish get off work?”

I looked at my watch. “She’s scheduled to leave in about thirty minutes and it’ll take her about another thirty to get here from the hospital.”

“Oh, jeez,” Stiles mumbled. He looked over at us. “What are you doing?”

“Hmm?” I looked behind me at Allison, who had her phone in her hand.

“I think… I think I have to call my dad.”

“I think we should wait on Scott and Trish,” I said.

“No, but if he finds you here, you and Scott…”

“I know,” She looked between me and Stiles. “What are we supposed to do? They’re not here to scare us, okay? They’re here to kill Lydia,” Allison looked like she was torn between calling her dad and trying to handle four werewolves on her own. My phone vibrated.

 

_On my way_

 

“Trish is on her way.”

“Well, she better hurry,” Stiles said.

 

_Please hurry_

 

Stiles kept looking at Allison. “I got an idea,” he suddenly said.

“It better be freaking brilliant,” I said.

“Just shoot one of them.”

“That’s your brilliant idea? To shoot one of them?”

“Are you serious?” Allison asked.

“We told Scott we could protect ourselves, so let’s do it. Or at least give it a shot, right?”

“Okay.” I moved out of Allison’s way and went over to Stiles’ window.

“Look, they don’t think we’re gonna fight, so if one of them gets hit, I’ll guarantee they’ll take off.”

“Or it’ll piss off the one we hit so bad that they’ll wolf out and tear us to pieces.”

“Just shoot one of them.”

“Which one?”

“Uh… Derek.”

“And you’re an idiot.”

“Yeah, shoot him. Preferably in the head.”

“If Scott was able to catch an arrow, Derek definitely can.”

“Okay, just shoot one of the other three.”

“Preferably Isaac,” I muttered, still mad about what he said to me in chemistry.

“You mean two.”

“No, I mean three,” We both looked out the window. Derek, Erica and Boyd were watching the house. But Isaac was missing. “Where in the hell is Isaac?” Allison took a step back and held up the crossbow. I glanced over at her when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, moving fast.

“Allison!” Allison spun around and Isaac pushed her aside like she was nothing. He then pushed me to the floor and threw Stiles into the living room. I saw that his eyes were glowing bright yellow. He snarled and went for Stiles. A blur went past me and Isaac went flying across the room and into the room across from the living room. Allison ran upstairs. I crawled backwards as glass broke. Allison ran back downstairs and grabbed me.

“Come on!” We ran back into Scott’s room and Allison shut the door and slid the chain into place.

“Where’s Lydia and Jackson?” I asked. She pointed her crossbow at the open window and saw the clear slime dripping.

“Stiles! It’s here!” She went to the window and coated one of her arrows with the slime. Erica kicked open the door and I gave a scream. Allison aimed the crossbow at her. A red dot appeared on Erica’s chest and she laughed.

“Hmm,” She crossed her arms. “This might make me sound like kind of a bitch, but I’ve always wondered what it felt like to steal someone’s boyfriend. I bet it’s a pretty sick rush of power. I think I might try it with Scott,” She laughed. “You know what? I don’t think it’s gonna be that hard. Because why would he be waiting around to steal 10 minutes with you when he can have me any time he wants,” Allison pulled the trigger and Erica caught the arrow with her left hand. She started laughing. “You didn’t really think that would work, did you?”

I smiled.

“Actually,” Allison said. “I did.” Erica looked down at the arrow and took it out of her hand, looking at it before looking at us.

“Ah!” Erica collapsed and Allison walked towards her. She leaned down and pushed Erica’s hair out of her face.

“I thought you were psychic,” She gave a laugh. “Bitch.” We left her lying there and went back downstairs. Isaac was now out cold. Scott’s eyes were glowing.

“Erica’s upstairs.” He went upstairs and returned a minute later with the she wolf.

“Open the door.” Stiles did so and Scott threw Isaac and Erica out of the house and at Derek’s feet. Trish ran up at that moment and Derek didn’t look too pleased.

“I see that plan went flawlessly,” she said in true Trish style. Derek looked up from his Betas to see the four of us on the porch.

“I think I’m finally getting why you keep refusing me, Scott,” Derek said. “You’re not an Omega. You’re already an Alpha of your own pack,” I saw the look Trish gave Derek when he said that. It was almost like she knew something. Or was figuring something out. Then she looked at Scott. “But you know you can’t beat me.”

“I can hold you off until the cops get here.” Derek looked to his left.

“And I’m not bailing you out this time,” Trish said, crossing her arms. Derek’s attention then went to the roof. Trish looked up as well. She uncrossed her arms and took a step back. I looked up, hearing something walking on the roof. We ran off the porch and looked on the roof as Trish went into an offensive stance and I saw her eyes change from their normal blue/green to purple. On the roof was the Kanima. It saw us and roared.

“Holy shit!” I breathed. Derek growled. Then the Kanima disappeared. Derek looked down at his Betas.

“Get them out of here,” he said to Boyd. A moment later, Lydia ran out of the house.

“Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”

“It’s Jackson,” Scott whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spanish Translations:
> 
> She’s innocent! You'll know once your Betas return with blue eyes!  
> She's not innocent, Trish. She attacked us and would have killed all of us if you didn't use water against her.  
> Do you trust me to be your Emissary or not?


	7. Protecting Jackson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott, Stiles, Anna and Allison try to protect Jackson from Derek. Trish makes a discovery in the secret room in her basement

**TRISH**

 

“Now’s not exactly the time to say it,” I said. “But I told you so.” Derek took off. “Derek!”

“Allison, take Lydia home,” Scott said. I tossed Anna the keys, noticing that Stiles’ Jeep and Derek’s Camaro were the only cars here.

“Anna, take them home then go home.”

Scott darted towards Stiles’ Jeep.

“Trish…”

“Go, Anna!” I climbed into the back seat of the Jeep. “Follow him!” Scott stuck his head out the window and we followed his directions. Derek chased Jackson downtown to the industrial district. “He’s going to freaking get himself killed going off by himself like that.”

“He’s going to kill Jackson, isn’t he?” Scott asked.

“If he can run him down and get close to him, yes.”

“We have to stop him.”

“Why?” Stiles asked.

“Because Jackson doesn’t know he’s the Kanima, Stiles,” I said.

“I told you it wasn’t Lydia.”

“Shut up and drive.” Stiles slammed on his breaks and I saw the fence and the spike strip. Scott darted out of the Jeep.

“What do we do now?” Scott was over the fence before he finished the question.

“Stay in the Jeep,” I said. I jumped out of the Jeep and launched at the fence, quickly climbing over it. I don’t have the werewolf agility, so my climb and decent were slower. I heard growls and hisses and followed the sound. Then I heard gunshots. Sounded like the Argents arrived. I pushed myself to run faster and arrived on the scene as the Kanima rose behind Chris. And for a split second I wondered how the hell I got there before Scott.

“Argent!” I screamed. He spun around and held his gun at Jackson and pulled the trigger. All I heard was a click. He quickly dropped the clip from the gun and reached for another. Jackson jumped up and kicked him in the chest, sending him against a support beam. He went after Chris and I sent a force blast at the Kanima, planting myself between the two. And I may have just made a huge freaking mistake by doing that in front of an Argent. Chris was gasping for breath.

“You okay?” I asked backing towards him. I couldn’t see the Kanima because of the headlights of Chris’ car but I could hear it hissing. I looked down at Chris and he nodded. I heard a car door and looked up. Gerard blocked the light of one headlight and I saw Jackson approach him, crawling on all fours before standing. Gerard had no fear of it. A minute later, Scott slammed into Jackson and the Kanima took off. Scott turned and looked at Gerard for several minutes before he took off after him.

“Shit,” I whispered.

“Go help him,” Chris said. “I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?” He nodded and I took off before Gerard came over here.

 

~~~

 

I lost both the Kanima and Scott around the downtown clubs, a very colorful string of language coming out of my mouth. Jackson and Scott, and Derek for that matter, could be anywhere. I felt something grab my shoulder and I spun around to slug the offender. Derek grabbed my fist.

“It’s just me. I’m really not in the mood for you to punch me in the face again.” Remember me telling you he scared the crap out of me by creeping on me? Yeah, I punched him in the face for that. Laura thought it was hilarious. I saw that Derek was completely wolfed out.

“What are you doing?”

“Tracking.”

“You have a lock on his scent?”

“He doesn’t have one, but I have a lock on Scott’s. Come on.” He grabbed my arm.

“If you’re going to drag me around, retract the claws first,” Derek let go. We both knew that if the scratch of an Alpha was deep enough, I’d turn. And I didn’t exactly want to be a werewolf. Actually, I didn’t want to be one at all. I was technically a supernatural already. Derek led the way to the side door of a club and he opened it. “Oh look, someone with a supernatural grip has already been here,” I said, noticing the handle had been ripped off. “Don’t you think you should unwolfify first?” Derek was probably ignoring my sarcasm as he disappeared into the club. The dance floor was full of dancing men in various stages of undress. I really felt like I was standing out and I was pretty sure I was probably the only straight woman here. Scott was slowly making his way across the dance floor, focused on something on the ceiling. I looked up and saw Jackson creeping across the ceiling.

“Derek,” He turned and followed my gaze. Then he made his way onto the dance floor. “Derek!” I whisper yelled. He was still wolfed out, his eyes looking brighter in the darkness of the club. “Shit!” The fog machine turned on, hiding Jackson. I couldn’t let the boys do this on their own, so I started pushing my way through the crowd. A good majority of them were probably drunk, which meant I might be able to get away with using my magic around them. I couldn’t see Jackson, Derek or Scott since the fog machine started pouring into the crowd, and with the strobe lights going as well, it was really hard to see anything. My eyes changed color and I was able to see clearer, but not enough to find the Kanima. Until I saw the first body fall.

“There you are.” I headed towards where the bodies were falling. Then I saw Jackson leaning over one of the fallen dancers.

“Jackson!” Scott cried. And then Derek was there. “No, don’t!” Derek growled and slashed. “No!” The Kanima went down. And then the screaming started. I had to get Derek out there and I shoved on his chest.

“Go!” He snarled. “Shut up and get out of here before the Argents show up.”

“Jackson.” I turned and saw that Jackson was gone.

“I’ll find him,” Scott said before taking off. I grabbed Derek’s hand.

“Dewolf and come on!”

 

~~~

 

Derek’s Camaro pulled up as the sirens wailed.

“Did you catch him?” the Beta asked.

“Yes, but he’s not dead. Get in the back.” The Beta did as he was told and Derek got into the driver’s seat and I got into the passenger side.

“What now?” I asked as Derek sped off.

“We need a better plan.”

“We need something that’ll prevent us from being paralyzed,” the Beta said from the backseat. I turned to him.

“What _is_ your name?”

“Boyd.”

“Nice to finally get to meet you,” I turned back to Derek. “I’ll look in my stash and see what I have. But I can’t guarantee that I’ll have anything to protect from a paralytic toxin that isn’t toxic to you guys as well.”

“It’ll be better than nothing.”

“I’ll look through them when you get me home.”

 

~~~

 

I waited until Anna went to school, getting a ride from Allison, before I went into the basement and opened the door into the hidden room. Since two of the walls were full of jars of herbs, it was going to take me a while to go through and see if I had anything that would kill the werewolves. I had a lot of herbs that were toxic to them and some that wouldn’t work at all. I actually never realized that I had so many jars of Mountain Ash. Did we really need this many? We only had a few werewolves in this town. And a Kanima. It wasn’t like we were overrun with supernatural creatures. Then I stopped. Unless Mom saw something and gathered all the Mountain Ash she could in preparation. After hours of combing through the jars, I found nothing that could combat Kanima venom. I sighed and stood on my toes, reaching for an old book that had every herb known to my family. They had carefully written down everything, so I hoped there was something that could prevent a poisoning somewhere out there. As I pulled it out, I bumped the top of the bookshelf. It came apart and another book fell. I turned my head from the dust and wood and hopped out of the way to avoid the falling book. Why was there a book hidden inside the bookshelf? I set the herb book on the bed and picked up the mysterious book. I’d never seen it before. I dusted it off and read _“Brúdlann”_ on the front. Puzzled, I opened the book. On the first page it read: _“Tá cumhacht Eolais. Is mór an chumhacht a thagann le freagracht i bhfad. Úsáid sé críonna.”_ Beneath that, written in English: _“Knowledge is power. It is a power that comes with much responsibility. Use it wisely.”_ I knew my mother’s handwriting. I turned the page and found a note. I set the book down and opened it.

 

_My dearest Trish,_

_If you are reading this, then I have passed on. It also means that you have discovered this book. I know you are wondering why it was hidden. The Argents and the Hales are not the only ones with records of the creatures of the world. I saw a time when you would need this. I have painstakingly translated the entries. I have seen many things in my time and I see a time when your powers will be greatly needed. Keep those you love close. I know you keep your abilities and what you are a closely guarded secret, but a day will come when those abilities will be the difference between life and death. One day, you will be all that stands between everything you love and death. Do not let grief and anger consume you in the future, nor let it take your life. I love you, my daughter, my legacy._

_Elizabeth_

 

I looked at the book. We had a bestiary? I set the note carefully back into the book. We had a bestiary that was in English? My phone started ringing and I saw that it was Allison.

“Yes?”

_Can you meet us at the overlook in the Preserve?_

“What did you do now?”

 _Just meet us there._ I knew the book would be fine where it was as myself and werewolves were the only things that could access the room, but I slid our bestiary back onto the shelf, leaving the herb book where it was and left the room.

 

~~~

 

“A prison transport van?” I asked when I met Allison, Stiles, Scott and Anna in the Preserve. “Whose bright idea was this?” Scott pointed at Stiles. “Go figure,” I paused. “Why do we have a prison transport van here?”

“We put Jackson in it…,” Stiles said.

“You what!? What the hell is wrong with you!? Were all four of you in on this?”

“Just us,” Scott said motioning to himself and Stiles. “Allison and Anna knew about it, but they weren’t involved.”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “What explanation did you give Jackson?”

“I explained to him that he was the Kanima and killing people. He doesn’t remember being the Kanima and he actually thinks I’m an idiot.”

“ _I_ think you’re an idiot. I take it he didn’t believe you.”

Stiles shook his head.

“If Jackson doesn’t remember being the Kanima,” Scott said. “He’s definitely not going to remember stealing Danny’s tablet.”

“Why would Jackson steal his best friend’s tablet?”

“Jackson took a video of himself on his first full moon. Danny was restoring it because it was missing two hours of footage.”

“Why would he steal the thing if he doesn’t even know what’s on it?” Stiles asked.

“What if someone else took it?” Allison asked.

“Then somebody else knows what he is.”

“Then somebody else is protecting him,” Scott said.

“Like the bestiary says ‘The Kanima seeks a friend’, right?”

“You found a translator?” I asked.

“Sorta,” Anna said. “Ms. Morrell.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know Marian could read archaic Latin.

“Okay, hold on,” Stiles said. “So somebody watches Jackson make a video of himself turning into the Kanima and then just erases part of it so he wouldn’t know? I mean who would do that?”

“Somebody who wanted to protect him?” Allison suggested.

“There’s something else," Scott said. "You said the only thing you found online about the Kanima is that is goes after murderers. What if that’s actually true?”

“Well, no, it can’t be," Stiles countered. "He tried to kill all of us, remember? I don’t know about you four, but I haven’t murdered anybody lately.”

“No, it didn’t,” Anna said. “That first night all it did was hiss at us.”

“Anna’s right, Scott said. "I don’t think it’s actually trying to kill us. It went right by Allison, Anna and I the first time we were at Isaac’s.”

“It just hissed and ran off,” Allison confirmed.

“It didn’t kill you at the mechanic’s garage.”

“Well, yeah, but it tried to kill me, Derek and Trish in the pool.”

“Did it?"

“It would’ve. It was waiting for us to come out.”

“It came after me before I used the water to make it back off.”

“What if it was trying to keep you two in?” Scott turned to me. “What if it was trying to make you go in?”

“Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?” Stiles asked.

“Because there is something else going on. We just don’t know what it is. We don’t know anything about what’s going on with Jackson or why someone’s protecting him.”

“‘Know thy enemy’” Allison suddenly said. I nodded. It was something we really needed to do. The other three gave her an odd look. “Just something my grandfather said.”

“Alright, I got it,” Stiles said. “Kill Jackson. Problem solved.” All four of us looked at him. Stiles threw his arms out in a “what?” gesture.

“We’re not killing Jackson,” I said.

“He risked his life for us,” Scott reminded Stiles. “Against Peter, you remember that?” Anna gave him an odd look. Oh, crap. I hadn’t told her the details of that night, although I had told her that her friends had been there.

“Yes, but what did we just find out? He got the bite from Derek.”

“Then it should be Derek’s problem,” Anna said.

“If Derek had his way, Jackson would be dead,” I countered.

“He already tried that, remember?”

“This is true.”

“My point is it’s funny how he got exactly what he wanted by supposedly risking his life for us.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean that he’s not worth saving.” I looked at Scott. That suspicion I was starting to have about him was becoming stronger. First, with what Derek said to him last night, now with Jackson.

“It’s always something with him, though,” Stiles quipped.

“He doesn’t know what he’s doing,”

“So what?"

“So, I didn’t either.”

Stiles snorted.

Scott turned to Allison.

“You remember when I almost killed you and Jackson?” Allison nodded. That had been the night that Scott had escaped from Stiles and Anna and I had recruited Derek to find him. He’d kept Scott from killing Allison and Jackson and had taken him home after he helped him regain control. “I had someone to stop me. He has nobody.”

“That’s his own fault.”

“Doesn’t matter. If we can save him, we should try.”

“I’m with Scott on this,” I said. “If he can be saved, if we can somehow find out why he’s a Kanima and not a wolf and help him become a wolf, we should. I just found our family’s bestiary. I’m going to look through it and see if our family has it in our bestiary,” I looked at my watch. “Unfortunately, I work the late shift tonight, but I will look after work.”

 

~~~

 

I had just enough time to find the entry and take photos of the pages with my phone. I had read the pages during my break. I found that the Kanima wasn’t seeking a friend like Marian had translated for Allison, but a master. Which meant someone was controlling Jackson, not protecting him. The question was who?

 

It had been a long night and Melissa and I were ending our shift. Her phone rang as we were leaving.

“Hello?” It was late so I wasn’t going to text Anna about what I found but I wondered if Derek knew this. “He did what!?” Melissa screamed into her phone. “Are you kidding me!?” Melissa was livid. This didn’t sound good. “I’m gonna kill him. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Melissa hung up.

“What was that about?”

“Seems like Stiles stole a prison transport van and he and Scott put Jackson Whittemore in it.”

“Scott?”

“I can’t believe it either.”

 _I can’t believe he got caught_ was my thought. My phone went off. My heart stopped a minute before I saw it was Allison.

“Have you read yours yet?” she asked in a low voice.

“Yeah, I had to take a photo of the pages. We might have a problem.”

“Someone’s not protecting him,” she said and I knew she knew.

“Someone’s controlling him.”

“Yeah. We just need to find out who.”


	8. An Eventful Detention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna, Scott, Stiles, Allison, Erica and Jackson land themselves in detention. Trish discovers a new mother and former classmate of hers witnessed a Kanima attack

I knew where Derek was hiding. But I had to make sure no Hunter followed me. I had a trick Mom had taught me to keep unfriendly eyes from seeing me. And it was a trick I had used at school when I needed to cover Laura sneaking into class. I used the cloaking trick and made my way to the old train depot. I needed to tell Derek what we found, although telling him who it was might not be a very good idea. Although I wasn’t really sure if I could lie without the uptick. I headed down the stairs and heard their voices.

“You said you were gonna teach us to change whenever we wanted,” Isaac said. I heard something that sounded like a chain drop.

“There hasn’t been time,” Derek answered.

“But if you have to lock us up during the full moon, that means you’re going to be alone against the Argents.” I leaned against the banister and crossed my arms. Derek had glanced my way as I descended so he already had caught my scent.

“What am I? Chopped liver?” I asked. Isaac and Erica looked at me. “He won’t be alone, Isaac.”

“And they haven’t found us.” Derek headed towards me.

“Yet! So how about we forget the Kanima?”

“We can’t!” Derek and I said at the same time.

“It’s more dangerous than the Argents,” I added.

Derek shook his head. “There was something about the way Gerard looked at it. He wasn’t afraid,” I looked at Derek. He’d seen the same thing I had. “At all.”

“And that’s what makes him dangerous.”

Derek nodded in agreement. “I don’t know what he knows or what he’s planning. But I’m sure about one thing. We have to find it first,” He turned to me. “What are you doing here? Were you followed?”

“We need to talk. And you know the answer to that question.”

He went past me up the stairs and I followed. “What was so important that you couldn’t call me?”

“I wanted to tell you in person. Apparently, my mother kept a bestiary hidden in the bookshelf in the room where I hid you after Peter attacked you. The Kanima is being controlled.”

“It has a master.”

I nodded. “We haven’t figured out who yet.”

“Great. Just what we need. Two of these sons of bitches.”

I shrugged. “I know.”

“Did you find anything in your stash?”

I shook my head. “Unfortunately, no.”

Derek snorted. “Then we’ll have to think of something else.”

 

**ANNA**

 

Allison and I headed into the library to meet Scott and Stiles. Lydia apparently could read archaic Latin and Trish found a bestiary in the Druid room in the basement that Mom had translated from Gaelic. We went down an aisle and Allison reached into her bag and pulled out a tablet and handed it through the bookshelf to Scott.

“It’s everything that Lydia could translate and what Trish found in her bestiary. And trust me, she was very confused.”

“No shit,” I mumbled, pulling a random book off the shelf.

“Yeah, what’d you tell her?" Scott asked.

“That we were part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures.”

Scott snickered. “Smart.”

“I _am_ part of a gaming community that battles mythical creatures,” Stiles said. Allison and I looked at one another.

“Oh,” Allison said.

“Okay, does it say how to find out who’s controlling him?” Scott asked.

“Nope,” I said.

“Stiles was right about the murderers,” Allison added.

“Yes!” Stiles celebrated.

I rolled my eyes.

“It calls the Kanima a weapon of vengeance,”

“There’s a story about a South American priest who uses the Kanima to execute murderers in his village,” I added.

“Alright, see? So maybe it’s not all that bad,” Stiles said.

“Until the bond grew strong enough,” Allison reached for a book and opened it. “That it killed whoever he wanted it to.”

“All bad. All very, very bad,” Stiles changed his tune.

“Trish was right about him not being a wolf. The Kanima’s actually supposed to be a werewolf, but it can’t be…”

I glanced behind Allison as the librarian put a book on the shelf behind and across from us.

“‘Until it resolves that in its past which manifested it’,” Scott read.

“Okay, if that means that Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy,” Stiles said. “I could have told you that myself.”

“What if it has something to do with his parents?” I asked. “His real parents.”

“Yeah, does anyone actually knows what happened to them?” Scott asked.

“Lydia might.”

“What if she doesn’t?”

“Well, he doesn’t have a restraining order against me or Anna, so we’ll talk to him,” Allison said.

“We will?” Allison gave me a look as she put the book back.

“Okay, what do I do?” Scott asked.

“You have a make-up exam, remember?” Scott looked at Stiles, who nodded. Allison reached through and put her hand on Scott’s. “Promise me.”

“If he does anything, you run the other way.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Uh… what part of paralytic toxin do you not understand?” I asked.

“Allison, if you get hurt while I’m busy with some stupid test, somebody’s gonna need to take care of me. If he does anything…”

“Like?”

“Anything weird or bizarre… Anything.”

Stiles stuck his head through the shelf. “Anything evil!”

Allison shoved Stiles’ face, sending him backwards and I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

 

~~~

 

Allison wanted to talk to Jackson first so I sat on the steps leading down to the locker rooms, where we had followed him. I took my phone out and saw that Trish had left a text for me. She’d let Derek know what we’d found out but didn’t mention that is was Jackson. Matt turned the corner and nearly tripped over me.

“Oh, hey, Anna.”

“Hey, Matt.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I go to school here.”

Matt laughed. “I meant right here.”

“Just waiting on Allison.”

“Cool. Well, see you in class.” He walked up the stairs. I was starting to get bored when I heard a crash.

“What the hell was that?” I stood. Erica stalked by, followed by Stiles.

“There’s a lot more to this that you don’t know about.” I followed them. “And just because you got the Alpha bite makeover doesn’t give you a license to go around destroying people.”

Erica stopped and turned around. “Why not? That’s all anybody ever did to me. I used to have the worst crush in the world on you,” Stiles gave her a look. “Yeah, you, Stiles,” Stiles looked down and then past her as she spoke. “And you never once even noticed me.”

“Wonder why,” I said sarcastically.

“Exactly how you’re not noticing me right now.”

I looked to see what Stiles was so interested in. Water was coming out from under the boys’ locker room door.

“Erica.” She turned and looked to see the water. Seconds before the door opened and Scott came flying out of the room, landing on his back. Jackson jumped on top of him. “Ah, crap.”

The three of us jumped in to separate the two. Erica grabbed Jackson from behind. She held him while Stiles, Allison and I pulled Scott back.

“What the hell is going on?” Mr. Harris asked. “Hey! Enough! Enough!” Scott pushed off of us. “What do you idiots think you’re doing? Jackson! Calm down! Mr. McCall, you wanna explain yourself? Stilinski!”

“You dropped this,” Matt said, holding a tablet out to Scott. Harris snatched the tablet out of his hand, then pointed it at Jackson and Scott.

“You and you… Actually,” he pointed to all of us. “All of you,” Matt held his arms out. “Detention. 3:00.”

“What?” I asked. “We were just trying to break it up!”

“Would you like to have both lunch and after school detention all week, Miss Roberts?” I shook my head. “Then shut up.”

 

~~~

 

We filed into the library after school. Stiles, Erica, Scott and I at one table. Jackson, Allison and Matt at another. I told Allison that Stiles had told me that Erica knew something about Jackson’s parents. I also told her I was going to help the boys find out what that was. Which was why I wasn’t sitting with Allison.

“We can’t be in detention together,” Jackson said. “I have a restraining order against these tools.” He pointed at our table, causing Erica to have a puzzled look.

“All these tools?” Harris asked.

“No, just us tools,” Stiles said, indicating himself and Scott. Erica looked at me.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Fine, you two,” Harris pointed to an adjacent table. “Over there.”

Nice try, Jackson. Not getting out of detention. Jackson had a look on his face like he couldn’t believe that Harris wasn’t letting him out of detention and I managed to hide a laugh, but not my amusement.

“The curiosity is killing me,” Erica said. “Why does he have a restraining order against Scott and Stiles?”

“I’ll tell you, if you promise me you won’t say anything to Derek until I talk to Trish.”

“What is the deal with those two anyway?”

“Who?”

“Derek and Trish. Are they together?”

“Oh, God no!” I didn’t realize I’d said it so loud until everyone looked at us. “They’re just really good friends. Trish was best friends with Derek’s sister and she dated his cousin.”

“Oh, so basically she’s a human member of the pack.”

“You could say that.”

“Now back to the restraining order…”

“Promise first.”

“Fine, I promise not to say anything to Derek.”

“Thank you. Stiles stole a prison transport van and he and Scott locked him in it.”

Erica laughed. “I see that held him very well.”

“Yeah, not Stiles’ best idea.”

“Dude, you okay?” Matt suddenly asked as Jackson suddenly got up, holding his head.

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Are you alright?” Harris asked. “Hey, you don’t look so good.”

“I just need to get some water.”

Jackson all but ran from the room and Erica and I watched him go before looking at one another. Harris started to follow Jackson and then turned back to us.

“No one leaves their seats.” He left the room.

The moment the door closed, Scott and Stiles darted over to our table.

“Stiles says you know how Jackson’s parents died,” Scott whispered.

“Maybe,” she replied.

“Come on, Erica," I said. "This will help us out in finding out if we can save him.”

Erica looked at the three of us, then sighed.

“It was a car accident. My dad was the insurance investigator and every time he sees Jackson drive by in his Porsche, he makes some comment about the huge settlement he’ll be getting when he’s 18.”

“So not only is Jackson rich now, but he’s getting even richer at 18?” Stiles asked.

“Yep.”

“There’s something so deeply wrong with that.”

I nodded in agreement.

“You know what? I could try to find the insurance report in my dad’s inbox.”

“You have his password?” I asked.

Erica only smiled. “He keeps everything.” She opened her laptop and logged on to his email provider. An announcement came over the PA.

“Scott McCall, please report to the principal’s office.” Scott looked confused and worried at the same time.

“That sounded like Allison’s mom,” I said.

“I know,” he replied.

“What did you do now?”

“I have no idea.” I glanced over at Allison and she looked just as worried. He stood and left. Jackson returned a few minutes later and sat back down. Erica finally found the email with the accident report and together we read it.

“Look at the dates,” Stiles pointed out.

“‘Passengers arrived at the hospital DOA’,” Erica read. “‘The estimated time of death 9:26 p.m., June 14, 1995’.”

“Jackson’s birthday is June 15,” Stiles said. Erica and I looked at Stiles.

“Oh, my God.” Jackson’s mother literally died before he was born. That’s why he was put up for adoption.

 

~~~

 

Harris started packing his bag and we did the same. As we got up, Harris started to laugh.

“No, I’m sorry. Yes, I’m leaving. But none of you are,” He patted the books on the book return carts. “You may go when you’re done with the re-shelving. Enjoy the rest of your evening.” Harris turned and left.

“How in holy hell is it possible to be that much of an evil asshole?” I asked, bringing a snicker out of Erica. Scott returned from the office and we told him what Harris had us doing. We all took a cart and went to different aisles. Erica and I were in one, Allison, Stiles and Scott were on another and Jackson and Matt were in the third. I could hear Allison, Scott and Stiles whispering in the next aisle.

“So about our conversation earlier,” Erica said.

“Which one?”

“About your sister and Derek.”

“I really don’t want to talk about Derek.”

“Why not?”

“Do you know how he became Alpha?”

“He killed the old Alpha. Stiles told me about Peter.”

“Did you know Peter was his uncle?”

“No.”

“That’s why I don’t want to talk about Derek.”

“You liked Peter.”

I nodded as I shelved a book. “A lot.”

“I’m sorry, Anna. I didn’t —”

We heard a crash.

“Erica!” Scott cried. Erica’s eyes glowed yellow and she growled. Something went over the bookshelves above us.

“Get down!” Erica cried, pushing me down. I looked up as she backed away. Jackson landed behind her.

“Erica!” I warned. She yelled and then went down. I crawled over her, seeing that she’d been nicked. “Scott!” I heard Scott roar and then something crashed. The lights were flickering and I heard the sound of chalk on a chalkboard. I peeked around the corner and saw Jackson was writing on the board. After he finished he jumped through the window.

 

_Stay out of my way or I’ll kill all of you_

 

Erica started shaking and taking short gasps of breath.

“Scott!” I cried as I turned her on her side. Stiles was there first. Scott and Allison turned. Stiles took Erica into his arms. “I think she’s having a seizure!” Allison ran over to Matt.

“He’s alive.”

I looked around. “How are we going to explain this mess?” I asked. The library looked like a war zone.

“Hey, we need to get her to a hospital,” Stiles said.

“No, we need to get her to Trish,” I said. “She’ll know what to do.”

“Derek,” Erica said. “Only to Derek.”

Scott looked through the bookshelf to Allison. “When we get her to the hospital —”

“To Derek,” Erica insisted. “To Derek.”

“Go,” Allison said. Scott darted around the bookshelf to her.

“Hey, Scott!”

“I’m staying here with you,” Scott said to Allison.

“They can’t take her alone. Not like this. And Matt… I’ve got to call an ambulance for him, just go.”

“This doesn’t feel right.”

“It’s okay. Just go.”

“No, it’s not. No, it’s not right.”

“It doesn’t… it doesn’t mean anything.”

“But it feels like it does.”

“Scott!” I called.

“Scott, go,” Scott hesitated. “Go.”

A minute later, Scott came back around and picked up Erica and he and Stiles started to leave. I hesitated.

“Anna,” Erica said and I ran after them.

 

~~~

 

Scott knew exactly where we were going it seemed. Scott and Stiles were in the front seat and I was in the backseat holding Erica.

“We need to hurry, Stiles.”

“Here!” Stiles slammed on the breaks and Scott jumped out. He took Erica and Stiles and I followed him. “Through that door.” I opened the door. “Anna, run ahead of us and let him know we’re here.” I darted off, forgetting for a moment I was still upset with my sister’s Alpha.

“Derek!” I screamed as I ran down the stairs. “Derek!”

Derek appeared out of one of the cars. “Anna? What are you—”

“The Kanima got Erica!”

“What?”

Stiles and Scott ran down the stairs. He darted past me and to Scott, taking his Beta from him. We followed them into the car he’d vacated a moment ago. He sat on one of the sideways facing seats and set Erica down.

“Pull her up.” Stiles darted over to her and held her up.

“Is she dying?” Stiles asked, worry on his face. Scott sat across from him and I sat on the floor next to Erica.

“She might, I…,” He reached down for her arm. “Which is why this is gonna hurt.” He broke her forearm and Erica screamed.

“What the hell, Derek!” I cried.

“You broke her arm!” Stiles cried at the same time.

“It’ll trigger the healing process. I still gotta get the venom out,” He dug his claws into her arm. “This is where it’s really gonna hurt.”

Erica screamed for a couple of minutes as Derek worked to rid her body of the Kanima’s venom. Erica stopped screaming and then looked up at Stiles, reaching up with her other arm.

“Stiles…,’ she whispered. “You make a good Batman.” I had no idea what that meant. Then she passed out.

“Oh, my God.”

 

~~~

 

“You know who it is,” Scott said as he, Derek and I left the car. Derek stopped and looked at the two of us before sitting down on the stairs and sighing.

“Jackson.”

“Trish told you, didn’t she?” I said.

Derek shook his head. “She wouldn’t have told me anyways.”

“You just wanted Erica to confirm it, didn’t you?” He looked at me before nodding.

“I’m gonna help you stop him. As part of your pack,” Derek looked at him, surprised. As did I. I was truly surprised that Scott was agreeing to be part of Derek’s pack. “If you want me in, fine. But we’ll do it on one condition. We’re gonna catch him, not kill him.”

“Do we have a plan on how to do that?” I asked.

“Not yet.”

“And?” Derek seemed to know there was more to Scott’s condition.

“And we do it my way.”

How the hell does Derek keep that scowl on his face at all times?

 

**TRISH**

 

Melissa and I ran to the EMTs as they wheeled in the laboring mother. Who turned out to be another classmate of mine, Jessica.

“We need to get her to labor and delivery, now!” Melissa said. We rushed her to delivery and Jessica grabbed my arm.

“It killed Sean. I can’t do this by myself.” I looked at Melissa, who nodded. I took her hand.

“You can do this, Jess.” She squeezed my hand and I realized what she said.

 

_It killed Sean._

 

The Kanima had killed again.

“You can do this.”

 

Jessica gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I was at her side, holding her hand. Although now she refused to let go.

“Thank you, Jenna,” Melissa said. “Thanks, you guys. I appreciate it,” Jenna wheeled the baby out of the room.

“Jess, can I have my hand back, please,” I asked as Melissa straightened out the sheets.

“Please, you have to tell him.”

I looked at her, confused.

“It’s fine, the baby’s fine,” Melissa assured her.

“Not the baby.”

“Okay.”

“He killed Sean.”

“Honey, the police know.”

“They don’t… They didn’t see it,” I looked at Jessica. “It wasn’t human.” She saw the Kanima face to face, I realized. She saw it kill Sean. I looked at Melissa to judge her reaction. She only looked at Jessica sympathetically.

“Okay,” she whispered. I managed to wrangle my hand out of Jessica’s.

“I’ll be back later to check on you, okay?” She nodded and Melissa and I stepped out of the room, Melissa shutting off the light.

“Hey, kid,” Melissa stopped a teenager in a black leather jacket. “What are you doing? You’re tracking mud all over my floor.” I smiled and went on my rounds. My cell phone rang.

“Yes, Derek?”

_What are you doing?_

“Um, working. Some of us don’t have an inheritance to live on.”

_Ha! You’re funny!_

“I try.”

_I meant, what are doing with Scott?_

“What are you talking about?”

_Scott just came here with Erica with Stiles and your sister in tow. He just said he’ll help me stop Jackson as part of my pack._

“What?”

_What did you tell him?_

“I didn’t tell him anything about joining your pack. And why was my sister there?”

_Jackson tagged Erica at school while they were in detention. Another teenager got caught in the crossfire. Anna tagged along. This isn’t you trying to keep the balance, is it?_

“No, maybe Scott just decided that his pack and your pack needed to work together to stop Jackson. Look, I gotta go back to work. We’ll talk later.”


	9. Bait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles develops a theory on how the victims are chosen. The pack comes up with a way to trap the Kanima, using Trish as bait

**STILES**

 

I brought Dad dinner. Since Mom died, I took it upon myself to keep an eye on him. He’s all I got, you know.

“I’m starving,” Dad said as I brought the bag in. He took a bite of his burger, then paused. “Oh, what the hell is this?”

“Veggie burger,” I simply said.

“Stiles, I asked for a hamburger.”

“Well, veggie is healthier,” I held up a salad. “We’re being healthy.”

Dad opened the other container to reveal celery and carrots. “Oh, hell, why are you trying to ruin my life?”

“I’m trying to extend your life, okay? Could you just eat it, please?” Dad just gave me a look. “And tell me what you found.”

“No, I’m not sharing confidential police work with a teenager.”

I looked behind Dad and saw the evidence board. “Is that it on the board behind you?”

Dad looked over his shoulder and I started to study the board. “Don’t look at that.”

“Alright.”

“Avert your eyes.”

“Okay.”

“Hey! Avert!”

“I see arrows pointing at pictures.”

“Okay, okay, stop. Fine," Dad finally relented. "I found something. The mechanic and the couple who were murdered. They all had something in common.”

“All three?”

“Yeah. You know what I always say. One’s an incident, Two’s coincidence.”

“Three’s a pattern,” I finished.

“The mechanic, the husband, the wife. All the same age. All 24.”

“Wait a minute, what about Mr. Lahey? Isaac’s dad isn’t anywhere near 24.”

“Which made me think that either A, Lahey’s murder wasn’t connected or B, the ages were a coincidence, until I found this,” Dad held up a folder. “Which would be C.” I took the folder. “Did you know that Isaac Lahey had an older brother named Cameron?” I opened the folder. Stamped in red ink across the paper was the words “DIED IN COMBAT”. I read the words out loud. “But if he were alive today take one guess as to how old he’d be.”

I looked at Dad. “24,” Then I thought about Trish. “Wait, Anna’s sister is 24,” The two of us went to the board. “Now what if same age means same class? Did you think of that?”

“Yeah,” Dad paused. “Well, I would’ve. I mean, I just got Lahey’s file two hours ago.”

“Two hours? Dad, people could be dying.”

“Yeah, I’m aware of that. Thank you.”

I studied the wall. “Same class,” I said.

Dad and I looked at one another, then brought out the Beacon Hill High School yearbooks and files. We went through the files until I found what we were looking for. “Okay, this is it. Class of 2006,” I said as I opened it and looked for the names of all the victims, including Bennet. “They all went to Beacon Hills.”

Dad pointed to something in the file he had open. “Including Isaac’s brother.”

“Alright, but so what if they all knew each other, you know. I mean, two of them were married, so maybe they hung out together.” I knew Trish knew Bennet. They’d dated before she started dating Derek’s cousin, but I wasn’t sure if she knew the others.

“Well, they could have had the same classes together,” Dad flipped through the pages. “They could’ve…,” he trailed off.

“What?”

“Same teacher.” Dad showed me the transcript for all four of them. They all had Mr. Harris as a teacher. Including Trish.

“They were all in his class?”

“All four. And I don’t know how Mr. Lahey fits in, but this, kid, this is definitely a pattern. Alright, give me the 2006 yearbook. These names, we need faces.”

“Which ones?”

“Everyone in that chemistry class,” Dad picked up the phone. “If the killer’s not done killing….”

“Then one of them’s next.”

I knew I needed to warn Trish.

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s Stilinski.”

 

**TRISH**

 

“Why are we going to the animal clinic?” I asked as Derek pulled up to the clinic.

“Because Scott said the vet could help and we’re hoping that he has something you don’t to help against the Kanima venom.”

“He didn’t have anything to slow down the Nordic blue poisoning.”

“Doesn’t mean he won’t have something that won’t help with the venom.”

We got out and I let Isaac out of the back. We approached the door and Scott unlocked and opened the door.

“What’s he doing here?" Scott asked. "I thought you were just bringing Trish.”

“I need him,” Derek simply said.

“I don’t trust him.”

“Yeah, well, he doesn’t trust you either,” Isaac snapped. I rolled my eyes.

Derek turned towards them. “You know what? And Derek really doesn’t care.”

“Why are we speaking in the third person?” I asked.

Derek just gave me a look before turning back to Scott. “Where’s the vet? Is he going to help us or not?”

“You know the vet does have a name,” I said.

“Thank you, Trish,” Alan said, leaning against the door frame. All eyes were on him now. “And that depends,” Alan looked at Scott. “Your friend, Jackson. Are we planning to kill him or save him?”

“Kill him,” Derek said.

“Save him,” Scott and I said at the same time as Derek. We both looked at the Alpha.

“Derek,” I sighed. We had already discussed this. Scott was giving Derek a look and Derek looked at Scott, a “what?” look on his face.

“Save him,” Scott said firmly. Derek then looked at me. I twerked an eyebrow at him and he sighed. Scott saw that he’d backed down and turned back to Alan. “Save him.”

Isaac had a completely amused look on his face at Scott and I tag teaming Derek. Alan nodded towards the back and we followed. Alan brought out his stash of herbs and we started looking through them. Isaac reached out towards one of the containers and Derek grabbed his arm.

“Watch what you touch,” He warned before he shoved Isaac’s arm away.

“Derek’s right,” I said. “Sometimes herbs can be harmful to you just by touching it.”

Isaac leaned forward as Alan picked up a jar and I picked up another. Each jar was labeled with a Celtic symbol. As a Druid, I was well versed in Celtic symbols.

“So what are you two?" the young Beta asked. "Some kind of witch?”

I had an amused smile on my face as I replaced the jar and picked up another. Derek gave Isaac a look. Alan just looked at him.

“No, I’m a veterinarian,” Alan said. Isaac looked at me.

“And I’m an ER nurse.”

Derek turned his look on me and Scott gave me a look. They both knew I was more than an ER nurse. Although, I’m pretty sure Scott thought I was a witch. Actually I think they both thought I was a witch. Isaac, of course, didn’t know about my gifts. Alan, on the other hand, knew exactly what I was. We both replaced the jars that were in our hands.

“Unfortunately, I don’t see anything here that’s going to be an effective defense against a paralytic toxin,” He looked at me. “Trish?”

“I didn’t find anything in my collection either,” I confirmed.

“We’re open to suggestions,” Derek said.

“Don’t get tagged,” I said, sarcastically and Derek gave me a look, as did Alan.

“What about an effective offense?” Isaac asked. The kid was smarter than he looked. I looked through the jars again, an idea beginning to form.

“We already tried,” Derek reminded him. “I nearly took its head off. Trish used her magic against it and Argent emptied an entire clip into it. The thing just gets right back up.”

“Has it shown any weaknesses?” Alan asked.

“Well, one. It can’t swim.”

“I was able to hold it at bay temporarily with a water barrier,” I added. Isaac was looking at me oddly. “Still not a witch, Isaac. Stop looking at me like that.”

“Does the fear of water or the inability to swim go for Jackson as well?” Alan asked.

“No,” Scott answered. “He’s the captain of the swim team.”

“Is there any sport he’s not the captain of?” I asked.

“Gymnastics.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I picked up the jar of Mountain Ash.

“Essentially, you’re trying to catch two people,” Alan turned and went through a drawer, bringing back a Celtic relief coin and held it up. “A puppet. And a puppeteer. One killed the husband but the other had to take care of the wife. Do we know why?”

“One is supernatural and one is not,” I suggested. Alan looked at me and nodded.

“I don’t think Jackson could kill Jessica,” Scott said. “His mother died pregnant, too, and she was maybe murdered.”

“Which would explain why he became a Kanima instead of a wolf,” I said.

“I think he couldn’t let the same thing happen to someone else.”

“So the master had to kill Jessica because Jackson wouldn’t do it.”

Scott nodded.

“How do you know it’s not part of the rules?” Isaac asked. “The Kanima kills murderers. If Jackson kills the wife, then the baby dies, too.”

“Does that mean your father was a murderer?” Scott asked.

“Wouldn’t surprise me if he was.”

I was tapping my finger on the lid of the Mountain Ash jar, playing with ways that my idea could work before I mentioned it.

“Hold on,” Alan said, seeing the jar in my hand. “The book says they’re bonded, right?” Derek nodded. “I think Trish may be having the same idea, but what if the fear of water isn’t coming from Jackson but from the person controlling him. What if,” Alan took the jar of Mountain Ash from my hand. “Something that affects the Kanima,” He held up the jar for the other to see. “Also affects its master?” Alan made a circle of Mountain Ash around the coin.

“Meaning what?” Isaac asked.

“Meaning we can catch them,” Scott said. “Both of them.”

Alan nodded.

“We can lay a trap,” I said. “If my guess is correct, we can trap the Kanima with a Mountain Ash barrier.”

“Is this why you were playing with the jar for five minutes?” Derek asked.

I nodded. “I was making a plan before I mentioned it. It’s a shape-shifter, just like the three of you. It will not be able to cross the barrier.” I passed my hand over the ash to demonstrate. Derek demonstrated to the two Betas how a supernatural could not cross it, a blue glow appearing around his fingers where he pushed against the barrier.

“We can trap the Kanima, but how does that help us catch who’s controlling him?” Derek asked.

“If they’re bonded, the master will know the Kanima is trapped and will come to free him,” I looked at the others. “We just have to figure out who their next victim is.”

 

~~~

 

“You want to what!?” Anna looked up at me as she rode in the passenger seat. She had Stiles on speakerphone as we came home from school. “Did I just hear you say you want to use me as bait?”

_Yes? Look, Dad and I figured out that all the victims had one thing in common. They were 24 and were in the same class as Harris. Bennett, Tucker, Sean, Jessica, Isaac’s brother. And you._

“Wait. You think that Trish is a target?” Anna asked.

_Possibly._

“Bennett and Cameron killed people, yes, but why target the others? Why target me?”

_I don’t know. But what if Harris is the one controlling Jackson?_

“Why would Harris kill people that graduated six years ago? Why not start with you guys?”

_Probably because he didn’t think we’d make that connection._

“So you want me, a possible target, to play the bait? What if I _am_ the next target?”

_Use your voodoo._

“Did you seriously just call it voodoo? If it really is coming for me, do you really think my magic will hold it off if it manages to nick me?”

_Scott, Derek and the others will be there._

“I don’t like this plan.”

_It’s the best one we have._

“Of course it is,” I sighed and looked at Anna. She was going to be at this rave thing. Scott had seen Jackson purchasing a ticket to it and they all assumed that his next target would be there.

_Can you just meet us at the animal clinic?_

“Is the clinic now supernatural planning grand central station?”

_Apparently._

“Fine. We’re on our way.”

Anna hung up and looked at me worriedly. “What if he does come after you? What if you get hurt?”

“I… I don’t know.” I really didn’t know how to calm her fears. Melissa had agreed to be Anna’s godmother right after Mom died and I became Anna’s legal guardian. If something happened to me, Anna would go live with the McCalls. I pushed the thoughts out of my head as I pulled up to the animal clinic.

Scott and Stiles were already there. We gathered around the exam table and Alan held up a vile, a syringe in the other hand.

“Ketamine?” Scott asked.

“It’s the same stuff we use on the dogs, just a higher dosage,” Alan said. He set the ketamine and the syringe on the table in front of Scott and the young wolf picked it up. “If you can get close enough to Jackson, it should slow him down enough to buy you some time.”

“Time for what?” Anna asked.

Alan held up the jar of Mountain Ash. “This is some of what you’ll use to create the barrier. This part is for you, Stiles and Anna. Only you.”

Anna looked surprised. I wasn’t happy about this but I would be on the inside, hoping I wasn’t on the Kanima master’s hit list.

“Uh, that sounds like a lot of pressure,” Stiles picked up the jar. “Can we maybe find a less pressured-filled task for us?”

“Shut up, Stiles,” Anna said, taking the jar from him and studying the contents. “What is this stuff?”

“Mountain Ash,” I replied.

“It’s from the mountain ash tree,” Alan explained. “Which is believed in many cultures to protect against the supernatural,” He motioned around him. “This office is lined with ash wood, making it difficult for someone like Scott to cause me any trouble.”

Scott looked amused and Alan smiled. I gave a chuckle, remembering how Peter couldn’t cause any trouble when he came to collect Scott after he was shot with wolfsbane.

“Okay, so then what?" Stiles asked. "We just spread this around the whole building and then either Jackson or whoever is controlling him can’t cross it?”

“They’ll be trapped.”

“Doesn’t sound too hard,” Scott said, reassuringly.

“I’ll do it if you think that’s too hard, Stiles,” Anna said.

“Not all there is," Alan added. "Think of it like gunpowder. It’s just powder until a spark ignites it. You two need to be that spark.”

“If you mean light myself on fire," Stiles said. "I don’t think I’m up for that.”

“Are you really that much of an idiot?” Anna asked.

“Anna,” I warned, trying not to let my amusement show. Stiles gave her a look while Scott gave him a look.

Alan chuckled. “Let me try a different analogy. I used to golf. I learned the best golfers never swing before first imagining where they want to ball to go. They see it in their mind and their mind takes over. It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of your own will can accomplish.”

“Force of will,” Stiles repeated.

“‘Imagination is more important than knowledge’,” I quoted and Alan nodded in agreement.

“Hey, if this is going to work, Stiles, you have to believe it.”

Stiles took a deep breath and nodded.

“I’ll be there to help," Anna reassured him. “We’ll do this together.”

 

~~~

 

I was leaning against my Renegade when Stiles pulled in. Anna immediately went over to help Stiles pull out the bags of Mountain Ash from his Jeep. I saw Erica and Isaac go inside and I followed them in. Derek and Boyd were going to be outside.

“You sure you want to do this?” Erica asked me.

“Not really, but if he’s going after the class of ’06, I’m the perfect bait for him.”

We stepped inside the plastic flaps and then split up. Erica and Isaac going one way, I going another. There were so much flashing lights going on, I had no idea how I was going to find Jackson. I didn’t want to have to change my eye color just yet. I saw Scott talking to Isaac and showing him how to use the syringe before darting off. I moved through the crowd and bumped into Harris. We recognized each other. He was with a date. We just looked at each other before I turned and quickly walked away. I really hoped he didn’t know that we suspected that he was the Kanima master. I spotted Jackson and Isaac walking up behind him and jabbing the syringe into his neck. I looked towards who he’d been walking towards and saw another girl I’d gone to school with. I couldn’t remember her name. Was she the target?

 

**ANNA**

 

Stiles began to pour the Mountain Ash out of the first trash bag while I carried the second bag. I was full of worry. I was worried that something would happen to Trish. I was worried that we weren’t going to have enough Ash. I was worried that the plan wouldn’t work. But my biggest worry was Trish getting hurt. What if she got hurt? I knew she could use magic and she said she was powerful but I had no idea how powerful she really was. Could she protect herself from the Kanima if Stiles was right? We were halfway around the building when I realized that Stiles had been calling my name.

“Huh?”

“I need the other bag,” he said.

“Oh. Sorry.” I handed him the bag.

“You’re worried about Trish, aren’t you?” I nodded. “She’ll be okay. I’ve seen her stand up to this thing. I watched her stand up to…,” he trailed off.

“You watched her stand up to Peter,” I finished for him. “At Beacons Crossing. Trish told me.”

“Yeah. Look, Trish can take care of herself. I promise, Anna. But we need to trap this thing before it kills someone else.”

I nodded and we continued on. I started to hear gunshots. “Is that what I think it is?” I asked.

“Sounds like it.”

I heard a roar.

“Yep, it’s the Hunters.”

We worked quickly but when we got close to Stiles’ Jeep, he suddenly stopped and poured the rest of the Ash into his hand. “Oh, no,” he muttered.

He had a handful of Ash and more than a handful worth of space between us and the beginning of the line.

“Stiles…”

“We don’t have enough,” He pulled his phone out and dialed. “Scott, pick up. Pick up now. Look, I got, like, 50 feet of Ash left and I’m out, okay? So you gotta get your wolf ass down here to help us because I don’t know what to do and I’m just standing here and I’m,” I heard the gunshots again, along with growls and snarls. But I also could feel every other emotion. Anger, anxiety, lust, why the hell was I feeling lust?, fear, annoyance. “I’m all alone and I’m hearing gunfire and werewolves and I’m standing here like a freaking idiot with Anna with a handful of magic fairy dust. And I don’t have enough. Okay?” He hung up.

“Stiles. What did Alan and Trish say at the clinic?”

“You got to believe. You need to believe.”

“Then believe, Stiles.”

“Okay, Stiles, believe,” he said. “Just picture it. Just imagine it working,” He was giving himself a pep talk. “Just…,” he glanced over in my direction and his attention was caught on something. “Imagine.”

I looked and saw a bumper sticker with the quote Trish had said in the clinic.

 

_Imagination is more important than knowledge_

 

Stiles exhaled and then started to walk forward. I held my breath and watched. Slowly he approached the beginning of the barrier. He stopped and sighed, brushing his hand off on his pants.

“Stiles!” I ran towards him. The barrier was complete. He looked amazed that it had worked. I jumped into his arms and we hugged, him swinging me around. He set me down and jumped onto a car, the alarm immediately going off. We didn’t care. It worked! We’d made the barrier! Stiles grabbed my hand and we went inside to where we had agreed to hold Jackson once he was sedated.

 

~~~

 

Stiles opened the door and Erica’s arm went up, claws out.

“No, no, no!" he cried. "Just us. It’s just us. Don’t freak.”

“Where’s Scott?” I asked.

“He said he had to make sure Argent didn’t completely ruin the plan,” Isaac said.

I closed the door behind me and Stiles moved deeper into the room while I stayed close to Erica.

“Is he okay?” Stiles asked. Jackson was sitting in a chair looking like he was stoned out of his mind.

“Well, let’s find out,” Isaac said, approaching him and flicking out his claws. He raised his arm to slash at Jackson and the Kanima caught his wrist and squeezed. Isaac went to a knee. “God! Ah!” Jackson let go and Isaac retreated back to us.

“I think he’s okay,” I said.

“Okay, no one does anything like that again, okay?” Stile said. Erica nodded and I could tell she was freaked out for some reason.

“Oh, I thought the ketamine was supposed to put him out,” Isaac said, still in pain as his wrist healed.

“Yeah, well, apparently this is all we’re gonna get. So let’s just hope that whoever’s controlling him just decided to show up tonight.”

Jackson’s eyes suddenly opened and I squeaked. Erica looked at me and Stiles looked over to check on Isaac.

“I’m here,” Jackson said, his voice sounding like two people talking at once. “I’m right here with you.”

Stiles slowly approached Jackson and crouched down in front of him. “Jackson, is that you?”

“Us. We’re all here.”

Now I was with Erica on the being freaked out.

Stiles looked back at us before turning back to Jackson. “Are you the one killing people?”

“We are the ones killing murderers.”

I was too freaked out to make a Legion joke.

“So all the people you killed so far…”

“Deserved it.”

“See, we got this little rule book that says you only go after murderers.”

“Anything can break if enough pressure is applied.”

Erica, Isaac and I looked at one another.

“Alright, so the people you’re killing are all murderers then?”

“All. Each. Every one.”

“Well, who did they murder?”

“Me.”

“Wait, what? What do you mean?”

“They murdered me.”

Stiles looked back at us and the two wolves started to go defensive. Jackson’s eyes turned bright orange and very lizard like.

“Stiles…,” I managed to squeak out. Stiles looked back at Jackson as I stepped forward and grabbed the back of his jacket.

“They murdered me.”

I had a death grip on Stiles. I will admit it. I was terrified. Jackson moved his right hand to his leg and I saw the entire arm was covered with scales and he had claws.

“Okay," Stiles said, his voice betraying that he'd joined the Freaked Out Club. "Alright. More ketamine. The man needs more ketamine. Come on.”

“We don’t have any more,” Isaac informed him.

“You used the whole bottle?” Erica started patting Stiles. I couldn’t take my eyes off of Jackson. Half his face was now covered in scales and he stood and screeched at us. “Um… Okay. Out! Everyone out!”

Erica, being the closest to the door, was the first one out, pulling me along with her.

“Go, go, go, go!” Isaac pushed Stiles out.

We slammed the door shut and braced against it once we were out.

“Okay, find something to move in front of the door!” Stiles cried. A fully transformed Jackson burst through the wall a split second after Stiles finished.

“I don’t think we have to worry about the door,” I said.

 

**TRISH**

 

Anna slammed into me.

“Ow! Anna!” She grabbed my arm and dragged me away. “Anna, what are you doing?”

“We lost him. He escaped. But we have the barrier so he’s not going anywhere.”

“What do you mean? You lost him?” She dragged me towards the Jeep. Several minutes later, Stiles came out of the building, looking freaked out. I heard someone coming towards us and I turned to see Derek running towards us. Stiles hopped over the Mountain Ash and Derek stopped next to him.

“Hey! Um… So we kinda lost Jackson inside, but it’s…” Erica and Isaac came out and stopped. Isaac crouched down and examined the barrier Stiles and Anna had laid. The two looked at one another, knowing they were trapped until the barrier was broken. “Oh, my God! It’s working! Oh, this is… I did something.” Stiles looked proud of himself.

Derek was looking around, a concerned look on his face.

“Derek?” I asked. We suddenly heard a howl. A distressed howl.

“Scott,” the Alpha said.

“What?” Stiles asked, confused.

“Break it.”

“What? No way!”

“Scott’s dying!”

“Okay, what?” I moved towards the barrier. “How do you know that?”

“Oh, my God, Stiles, I just know! Break it!”

I broke the barrier as Derek screamed at Stiles. “Go! Find him!”

Derek sprinted away and I ran after him. Of course, with Derek being an Alpha werewolf, he was much faster than me. By the time I caught up with him, he was dragging Scott out of a mist filled room.

“Oh, my God!”

“She tried to kill him with vaporized wolfsbane.”

“We have to get him to Alan. Now!”

Derek picked up Scott and we ran to my car.

“Oh, My God! Scott!” Stiles cried.

“Get everyone home, Stiles. Now!” I started the car as Derek jumped into the front seat. Erica, Isaac and Anna were getting into the Jeep as I sped off.

Derek looked into the back seat. “I… I think I bit her,” Derek said.

“Bit who? Who tried to kill Scott?”

“Victoria.”

“You bit an Argent!?”

“She attacked me! I was acting in self-defense!”

I punched the speed dial on my phone.

_Hello?_

“Alan, we’re heading towards the clinic. Scott’s been poisoned with wolfsbane. The vaporized kind. I think she was trying to make it look like he had an asthma attack.”

 _I’ll be waiting for you._ He hung up.

“Why did she attack you?”

“You heard the howl. The better question is why did she try to kill Scott? Doesn’t that go against the Code?”

“Well, the Argents aren’t exactly sticklers to the rules, now are they?” Derek didn’t answer. My guess was Victoria had found out about Romeo and Juliet and tried to kill him because of it.

I pulled into the parking lot of the animal clinic and I ran towards the door as Derek retrieved Scott. Alan had the door open before I reached it. The two of us worked quickly and it didn’t take long before Scott was breathing normally again. I treated Derek for his brief exposure while Alan finished up with Scott. We were relieved that he’d had the strength to howl.

“Thank you,” Derek said as Alan turned to leave. Alan nodded. I left the room as well.

“Everything went wrong,” I said. “The barrier worked but the plan fell through.”

We stepped out into the front office.

“Sometimes even the best laid plans can backfire,” Alan said, sagely.

“No kidding.”

“Can’t decide if I admire your sentimentality or despise it,” We both turned to the woman sitting in the waiting room. It didn’t surprise me that Marian Morrell was sitting in the lobby.

“If I want your opinion,” Alan said. “I’ll make an appointment with the guidance office.”

By the way, Marian and Alan were siblings, Alan being the older of the two. Like me, both of them helped keep the balance, although the two disagreed on _how_ to keep the balance.

“From the state of things, I think you could use a little guidance," she said as she stood. "Are you really going to leave all of this up to a couple of kids?”

“Nice to know we’re all kids,” I smarted off.

“They’re more capable than you think,” Alan defended.

Marian nodded. “And are you going to tell them what’s coming?”

I looked at Marian as Alan looked over his shoulder towards the room we’d left Scott and Derek in.

“They’ve got enough to worry about,” he said in a low voice.

Believe it or not, I knew what she was talking about. But Alan was right. We all had enough to worry about with the Kanima and the Argents. What was coming was the reason why Mom had collected so much Mountain Ash. And the reason Derek had been trying to build his pack so quickly, despite my advice.


	10. Worm Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott, Stiles, Allison and Anna attend a party. Trish helps Derek with his Betas. Scott, Stiles and Anna make a discovery

I drove Derek and Scott to the train depot once Scott was able to move around.

“This isn’t working,” Derek said as we descended the stairs.

“What do you mean? Are you saying you just want to give up?” Scott asked.

“I’m saying we need a new plan, because next time one of us is going to be too hurt to heal and we won’t have Trish or Deaton around to help us out.”

“So far every plan we’ve had has backfired,” I said.

“Thank you, Trish,” Derek replied sarcastically. I gave him a smile.

“I get it,” Scott sighed, he sounded almost defeated. Derek sat down on one of the sideways seats as Scott leaned against a pole. I leaned against the pole on the other side of Derek. “We can’t save Jackson.”

“We can’t seem to kill him either. I’ve seen a lot of things, Scott. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Derek was sounding just as defeated. And I will admit, I was at a loss as well. I had no idea what to do. Nothing was working. I’d combed through my bestiary maybe a hundred times, but there was nothing on how to save a Kanima or help him resolve his issues to become a wolf. “Every new moon is just gonna make him stronger.”

“Then how do we stop him?”

Derek shrugged and shook his head.

“I don’t know if we can,” I said.

“Yeah, maybe we should just let the Argents handle it.”

“I’m the one who turned him. It’s my fault,” Derek sighed.

“Yeah, but you didn’t turn him into this," Scott said. "I mean, this happened because of something in his past, right?”

“That’s a legend in a book. It’s not that simple.”

I looked at Derek.

“What do you mean? What aren’t you telling me?”

“Why do you think I’m always keeping something from you?”

“Because you usually are,” I muttered.

“Because you always _are_ keeping something from me.”

“Well, maybe I do it to protect you.”

I didn’t have any room to comment. I was keeping something major from everyone, including Derek.

“Doesn’t being part of your pack mean no more secrets?”

“Go home, Scott. Sleep. Heal. Make sure your friends are safe. ‘Cause the full moon’s coming. And with the way things are going, I’ve got a feeling it’s gonna be a rough one.”

“No kidding.”

“You too, Trish. Go home. Make sure Anna’s safe.”

“Derek.”

“There’s still the off chance that you could be one of the Kanima’s targets. I want you to focus on protecting yourself for once,” I glanced at him. I couldn’t do that. “Go home, Trish.”

I sighed and left with Scott.

 

“Are you okay?” Scott asked as I headed towards his house.

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “Nothing is going right. The only thing that actually went right tonight was the barrier. I’m at a loss as to what to do,” I pulled up in front of his house. “I don’t know if we can save Jackson. I don’t know if we can even stop him.”

“We have to try.” Scott got out of the car and headed into his house.

“Yeah, we do.”

 

~~~

 

 _I know how the targets are being picked! You’re safe!_   Stiles cried.

“How much adderol have you had today?” I asked.

_Not enough. Bennet, Tucker, Sean, Jessica and Kara were all on the swim team. Lahey was their coach. You’re safe!_

“Well, thank God for that. How did you figure it out?”

_Dad noticed all the victims were on the swim team. I then noticed that Isaac’s dad was the coach._

“Maybe that’s where the fear of water comes into play?”

_Maybe. What are you doing?_

“Heading over to Derek’s to help him restrain three Betas for tonight. I’ll let Derek know what you found. Maybe he’ll have insight on it. You and Anna just keep an eye on Scott and make sure he stays in control tonight.” I went down into the depot. Isaac was examining a set of chains.

“Good thing I had my period last week, then.” The boys just looked at Erica and Boyd gave a small laugh.

Derek held up a ring. “Then this one is for you.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen Isaac that quiet in a long time,” I said.

“Don’t you know better than to sneak up on a pack of werewolves?” Isaac retorted.

“You know my scent. I’m not sneaking up on you if you can smell me.”

Derek chuckled as I looked in the box. I pulled out another set of chains. “How much of this crap do you have?”

“Enough.” Derek took the chains from me.

“I guess it’s better than handcuffed to a radiator,” He gave me an odd look. “Don’t ask,” I looked around. “Um... where are you planning on retraining them?” Derek looked at the car they were standing in front of. “Alright then.”

 

~~~

 

We had Boyd in place. As the youngest of the Betas, we restrained him first. Derek was getting the headband for Erica ready. Isaac was standing behind her and I was standing between her and Boyd, finishing up restraining him.

“What if we break free?” Boyd asked.

“Then you’ll do anything you can to get out of here. Probably try to kill me, then kill each other and kill anything else with a heartbeat.”

“Way to inspire your pack, Derek,” I commented.

“Will she be here the whole time?”

“I’ll be gone as soon as we finish restraining the three of you,” I answered. “So don’t worry about your bloodlust hurting me.”

“If not before,” Derek added. He turned to Isaac and I. “I need you to hold her.”

Isaac put his arms under hers and I held onto her shoulders. “So how come she gets to wear the headband thing?” he asked.

“Because she’ll be able to withstand more pain than the two of you,” Erica snickered. “I’ve got an extra one if you really want it.”

Isaac shook his head. “I’ll pass.”

I snickered this time and Erica rolled her eyes.

“You ready?”

Erica nodded. “Yeah.”

Derek placed the headband on Erica and began to tighten it. It wasn’t long before she started screaming and I was glad that Isaac was helping me hold her.

 

~~~

 

Erica and Boyd started screaming as we started on Isaac.

“Trish, you’re going to have to go now,” Derek said. I glanced over at the two Betas, who were starting to transform.

“How do you not feel this?” Isaac asked.

“I feel every second of it. Trish, get out of here now. I’ll finish Isaac.”

I stood, knowing I was pushing it. “Call me if you need anything.”

He nodded and I took off. I’m pretty sure I haven’t run that fast since my final high school track meet. I really hoped that Derek was going to be able to handle this.

 

**ANNA**

 

Allison picked me up for Lydia’s party, since Trish was helping Derek restrain his Betas for tonight. We were the first ones there and Allison seemed nervous.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s… nothing.”

We walked up the drive. This was going to be the first Lydia Martin party since she’d been bitten. “For Lydia.”

We both jumped at a kid whooping. “Whoo! Party!” he cried as he and a girl ran by. There really wasn’t many people at the party and Allison commented on it.

“Maybe we’re just early?” I suggested. I saw Scott and Stiles walk out onto the patio.

“Hated the swim team,” Stiles was saying. “Specifically, the 2006 swim team.”

Scott sighed. “So it could be another teacher. Maybe, like, a student back then,” Allison and I approached them. “I mean, who are we missing? What haven’t we thought of?” Allison and Scott gave each other tight lipped smiles.

“Uh, Jackson’s not here,” Allison said.

“Yeah, no one’s here,” Stiles commented.

“Maybe it’s just early,” Scott suggested like I had before he got here.

“Or maybe nobody’s coming because Lydia’s turned into the town wack job.”

“Well, we have to do something,” Allison said. “Because we’ve completely ignored her for the past two weeks.”

“She’s completely ignored Stiles for the past ten years,” Scott said and I decided that it was the full moon talking.

“I prefer to think of it as me not having been on her radar yet.”

I chuckled.

“We don’t owe her a party.”

“What about the chance to get back to normal?” Allison asked.

“As long as she still doesn’t know, she can still go back to normal,” I said. “Wouldn’t you want that?"

“She wouldn’t be the town wack job if it wasn’t for us,” Allison added.

“I guess I could use my co-captain status to get the lacrosse team here.”

“Yeah, I also know some people who can get this thing going,” Stiles said. “Like really going.”

“You do?” I asked.

“Who?” Scott asked.

“I met them the other night. Let’s just say they know how to party.”

 

~~~

 

The party was hopping now as Lydia went around passing out punch. It was really good punch. I watched as everyone danced and had a good time. Stiles had told me that all the victims were on the 2006 swim team. The only connection Trish had to the swim team was the brief time she dated Bennet. I was relieved to know that Trish was no longer a target.

“Allison,” I whispered. Jackson had just walked in. Lydia walked up to him and handed him a glass of punch.

“I’m glad you could make it,” she said before turning away.

I wandered around, trying to avoid being bumped into. Almost everyone was making out as I drank another glass of punch. Allison disappeared and not long afterwards everyone started acting weird. I saw one guy caressing a tree. I set the unfinished glass down. A couple of girls were caressing each other’s cheeks and giggling. A random guy started smelling my hair.

“Okay, no touching.” I retreated from him.

“But it smells so good. Like coconuts.”

“And you’re wasted.” What the hell did Lydia put in the punch?

I turned and saw Trish. What was Trish doing here? She looked pissed and was pushing her way through the party-goers. I knew something was wrong, Trish wasn’t that aggressive. At least I hadn’t seen her that aggressive. We locked eyes.

“You,” She pointed at me. “You, Anna. I wanted to lead a normal life. But instead I got saddled with taking care of a teenager. I got saddled with you. You weren’t happy unless you knew everything I knew,” I gaped at her. Why was Trish saying that? “You had to know everything. You just had to know about the supernatural, didn’t you? You couldn’t be happy with being blissfully ignorant about the real world. You had to have that burden, didn’t you? You, a stupid human that was lucky enough not to be born with supernatural powers,” By this point everyone was staring at me and my eyes were full of tears. “That’s all you’ll ever be. A stupid, powerless human in love with a dead, psychotic werewolf.” I closed my eyes, the tears falling. How could Trish say those things? When I opened them, Trish was gone and the party was still going on as if nothing had happened. I squealed when someone grabbed my arm.

“Anna? You okay?” Scott asked.

“I…”

“You saw something too?”

“Trish…”

“I think Lydia put something in the punch.”

I noticed he looked like he was struggling to keep in control. “Scott, are you okay? Do we need to leave?”

Scott shook his head. “Have you seen Lydia?”

“Not for a while. I haven’t seen Allison or Stiles in a while either,” I caught sight of Stiles sitting next to the pool. “Oh, never mind, there’s Stiles.”

Scott turned around. “He’s wasted. I’m going to get him some water.”

I sat down next to Stiles. “Hey, hyperactive spazz.”

“It’s not my fault,” he mumbled.

“I know,” I had no idea what he was talking about. “I know it’s not your fault.”

Scott seemed to appear at my side with a bottle of water. “Stiles, look at me. Drink the water,” Stiles made a face. “Stiles, drink it,” Stiles brushed his hand away. “Something’s happening and I need you to sober up right now. Come on, Stiles.”

A heavy set black girl knelt next to us. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked. Scott and I looked at one another. “If you want to sober him up fast, that’s not the way to do it.”

“You have a better method?” I asked. She only smiled.

“You can do better?” Scott asked and I could feel his annoyance.

“I can do best, boy,” She grabbed Stiles and dunked his head in the pool. Scott and I just gaped. She brought him up a second later and Stiles gasped, but was fully aware now. “How do you feel?” she asked.

“Are you kidding!?” I asked.

“Like I might have to revisit my policy about hitting a girl,” Stiles remarked.

“He sober,” Scott nodded at her and she went about her business.

“Huh,” I commented. “I never would have thought about that.”

Allison ran towards us. “Guys, I have to go. My dad just called,” she was distraught. “My mom… I… I have to go.”

“Go, I’ll get a ride with Stiles,” I said. Allison was in tears as she ran towards the front door.

“What was that about?” Stiles asked.

Scott shook his head. “We need to find Lydia,” Scott said.

“What? Why?”

“We think she put something in the punch.”

“Great.”

 

We split up, looking for Lydia. After we searched through the whole house, we met back at the pool.

“Hey, I can’t find her," Stiles said. "And, dude, everyone who drank that crap, they’re freaking out.” The party-goers started throwing each other and jumping into the pool.

“Oh, crap,” I said.

“I can see that,” Scott commented.

“What the hell do we do?” Stiles asked.

“I don’t know, but we gotta…”

“No! I can’t swim!” Scott cut off as the three of us looked for the source of the screams. “No, no, no, stop, guys! I can’t swim! I can’t swim!” Matt was thrown into the pool. He was in the water flailing. “I can’t…,” His head went under the water. “I can’t…,” I went over to the pool’s edge and reached for Matt. He was flailing so much that I couldn’t grab him. Jackson ran over and grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him towards the edge. The two of us pulled him out of the pool, Jackson glaring at everyone in the vicinity. Matt shoved away from me. Everyone was staring at him. “What are you looking at?”

Matt started to walk away then stopped in front of Scott and Stiles. Scott and Stiles were looking at him with shocked looks on their faces. He moved past them and I joined them. We heard sirens in the distance.

“The cops are here!” Someone yelled. “Party’s over!” Scott darted towards the door. Stiles grabbed my wrist and we followed. Stiles lost his grip when we were bumped into and we were separated. I found Scott. He was looking around like he was searching for someone.

“Scott!” He turned towards me. “It’s Matt, isn’t it?”

Scott nodded. Stiles joined us. “We have to go.”


	11. The Kanima Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott, Stiles, Derek and Trish are held hostage by the Kanima Master. Anna finds a surprise and does her own investigation.

**TRISH**

 

I was getting concerned. I had called Derek to check on him, but the calls kept going to voicemail. I had a feeling that something had happened. I grabbed my keys and was about to head out the door when a knock sounded. I opened it and was surprised to see Alan.

“You have the same feeling don’t you?” he asked.

“That Derek’s in trouble?”

He nodded. “We’ll take my car.”

“Fine with me.” I got into his Forrester and I directed him to Derek’s hideout. His car was still here. “Stay here,” I said when I got out of the car. “If his Betas are running amuck, I don’t want you hurt.”

“Trish,” I flashed my eyes, I found it was getting easier for me to change them at will, and Alan sighed. “I keep forgetting about that.”

“I’ll be right back.” I slowly descended the stairs, fully grasping my magic. It was quiet. Much too quiet. I started to walk towards the car when I noticed a purple residue on the ground, along with marks on the dusty floor that looked like something had been dragged. I crouched, examining the residue.

“Trish?” I heard Isaac call.

“Yeah.” I stood and pushed open the door slightly and saw him sitting on one of the forward facing seats, chained to it and in a full shift, but he seemed to be in full control.

“I smelled Lydia,” he said. “I don’t know why she was here or how she found it, but I think she took Derek.”

“Derek let a ninety pound girl…,” I trailed off and looked back down at the purple powder. “Wolfsbane,” Then I remembered what March’s full moon was called. “Oh, my God.”

“Find him, Trish.”

I nodded and darted over to his jacket. He never went anywhere without it. I fished his car keys out of the pocket, picked up the jacket and then darted up the stairs.

 

Alan opened his door when I burst out of the door. “What is it?”

“Worm moon,” I said. “We have to get to the house, stat.”

“Peter’s using Lydia to resurrect himself,” It wasn't a question.

“Using Derek’s Alpha strength.” I ran to the Camaro as Alan pulled out of the alleyway.

 

~~~

 

I was the first into the house. I slid to a stop when I ran into what used to be the living room. There was now a huge hole where we had buried Peter. Next to the hole was an unconscious Derek. I could see his chest barely rising. “Oh, my God,” I ran to Derek. “Derek,” I slapped his cheek. “Come on, Derek. Wake up. I’m not punching you, now wake up, Derek.”

Alan joined me. “Derek, can you hear me?”

“Come on, Derek.”

“I need you to answer us, Derek.” Alan pulled something from around his neck.

“Derek!”

“We don’t have much time.” He put what looked like a dog whistle to his lips. Derek came to, panting a few seconds later.

“That worked,” I put my hand on his shoulder, risking his claws. “Derek, it’s us.”

Derek looked at me, then Alan, before looking around and starting to rise. “That sound,” he started as I helped him into a sitting position. “What was it?”

Alan held up the dog whistle and smiled. Derek scoffed and stood. I hopped up as Derek staggered backwards, the two of us catching him. He looked like he’d been through one hell of a fight. His sleeveless shirt was dirty, blood stained and full of holes. Obviously, his Betas had managed to escape their binds. But I wasn’t going to tell him “I told you so”. I was more concerned with the fact that Peter was alive again and Derek was extremely weak. “You’re gonna be weak for several hours.”

Derek looked down at himself, then at the hole in the floor. He looked at his arm, five small lines of dried blood trailed down his right forearm. He looked around before looking at us, seeming to just realize where he was. “It actually happened,” he said in disbelief.

“Don’t worry,” Alan said. “You’re still an Alpha. But, as usual,” He put the whistle around his neck. “Not a particularly competent one.”

I gave Alan a look.

“Where is he?” Derek’s tone turned dark.

“I wish I could tell you.”

“Then how about you tell me what both of you are doing here,” His attention went to Alan. “And why you’re helping me?”

“Well, last I checked I was your Emissary,” I smarted off.

I could see pain in Alan’s eyes. “Helping your family actually used to be a pretty important part of my life,” I looked at Alan, realization dawning on me. “Helping you was a promise I made to your mother,” Alan had been close to Talia, but I had never known why. Until now.

Derek actually backed off. “You’re the one my sister talked about. She said you’re a kind of adviser.”

“Just like Trish is yours, even if you don’t listen to her advice,” He glanced at me. “And I have some advice that you both need to listen to very closely right now,” He motioned to the hole that Peter had previously occupied. “What Peter managed to do doesn’t come without a price. He’ll be physically weak, so he’ll rely on the strength of his intelligence, his cunning.”

“His cunning was already his strongest asset,” I said.

Alan nodded. “He’ll come at you, Derek. He’ll try to twist his way inside your head, preying on your insecurities,” I looked at Derek. He’d already had someone do that and I hoped he’d learned from that, considering the price we all paid for that. “He’ll tell you that he’s the only way you can stop Gerard. Do not trust him.”

“I don’t trust anyone,” Derek replied.

I gave him a dirty look. “Thanks,” I said dryly.

“You’re the only one.”

Alan scoffed. “If you did trust more than one person, you might be the Alpha you like to think you are. And unfortunately, the one person besides Trish you should trust, doesn’t trust you at all.”

Derek knew exactly who Alan was talking about. “Scott.”

“He’s with Stilinski right now. You need to find him, you need to find him as fast as you can. I’ve known Gerard a long time. He always has a plan,” He looked back down at the now empty hole. “And something tells me,” He looked back up at Derek. “It’s going exactly the way he wants it to.”

I held up Derek’s keys. “I’m going with you.”

 

**ANNA**

 

I was livid at the boys. Once again they wanted to leave me out of everything. And Stiles had the nerve to say it was because I was human! I called bullshit on that and Scott then said it was because they didn’t want me to get hurt. Scott even went as far as to use Trish as leverage, saying she’d kill them both if I got hurt. My counter that it went both ways fell on deaf ears and that is why I am currently in the backseat of Danny’s car. I could feel the awkwardness of having a girl in the car with him, along with his date. Everyone knew Danny batted for a different team.

“I’m sorry, Danny,” I finally said, not able to stand the awkwardness anymore. “I know how awkward this is for you.”

Danny’s date turned to face me. “Sweetheart, don’t be. We couldn’t leave you stranded after your friends took off like bats out of Hell,” I liked him. I didn’t know his name, but I liked him. “You’re too pretty to hitchhike.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Thanks.”

Danny chuckled as he pulled up in front of my house. “I’ll see you at school. Have a good spring break,” Danny said.

“You, too. Thanks for the ride.” I headed to the front door to find it was locked. Since the lights were off, I figured that Trish was probably asleep or still at Derek’s hideout. We had a spare key in the garage, so I went through there. And saw Trish’s car in there. Huh, she must be asleep. I unlocked the door and went inside, trying to be as quiet as possible. Usually, Trish left the light above the stove on, something Mom used to do in case one of us needed a drink in the middle of the night and wouldn’t wake the rest of the house fumbling around in the dark for the light switch. But the main kitchen light was on. I assumed that Trish was waiting for me as it was 2 o’clock in the morning, but as I tried to sneak past, I saw the kitchen was empty and a note was on the table.

 

_Anna,_

_Went to check on Derek. Hopefully will be back soon._

_Love you. Trish_

 

 _If she went to check on Derek, why didn’t she take her car?_ I wondered. Then I thought maybe she was already back and just forgot to take the note off the table. I crept upstairs, trying not to wake Trish. I went into my room and turned on the light, finding a man sitting on my bed. I screeched and he winced. I then covered my mouth, thinking I might have woke Trish.

“Hello, Anna,” he said with a smile. “Don’t worry about waking Trish. She’s not even here.”

Why was there a man in my room? And how did he know my name? He was just sitting on my bed like he had nothing better to do. He was wearing blue jeans, a green shirt and a jacket. He was giving me a mischievous smile as he brushed his mostly shaggy hair out of his face and I saw his eyes. His beautiful, blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes that I would know anywhere.

“Peter!” I squealed and ran towards him. He caught me as I jumped on him and I squeezed his neck. “I missed you! Trish said you were dead.”

“I was just taking a very long nap. So can you fill me in on what’s been going on?”

“Derek’s the Alpha and Trish is his Emissary and he has three Betas that Trish had to help lock up tonight and people have been being killed by this thing called a Kanima and we figured out that the victims were all on the 2006 swim team and their coach. We though Trish might be a target because before Stiles figured out they were on the swim team together the only thing they had in common was their ages and the fact they all had Mr. Harris as a teacher.”

“All that since I’ve been gone? Only three Betas?”

“They all chose to be wolves for different reasons. Oh, do you know this guy named Gerard? Trish thinks he’s here to cause trouble and has a hard on for Derek and his pack.”

“Yes, I know Gerard. He’s a psychopath that calls himself a Hunter,” Peter had an odd look on his face. “Your sister might be right. And as part of his pack, Trish might be in as much danger from him as Derek and his Betas. Where is the pack now?”

“We figured out who was controlling the Kanima, so Scott and Stiles are trying to convince Stilinski, Trish was checking on Derek and Isaac, Erica and Boyd are all restrained so they can ride out the full moon.”

“Huh, Well, I have a feeling we should head to the sheriff’s station then. You don’t happen to have the keys to Trish’s car do you?”

 

**TRISH**

 

After Derek changed shirts from the change of clothes he had in his trunk, the two of us headed towards the sheriff’s station.

“How did the two of you know I was at the house?” Derek asked.

“I had a bad feeling that you were in trouble when you weren’t answering my calls. Alan had the same feeling. I went to the depot first.”

“Trish.”

“Relax. Erica and Boyd were asleep and Isaac was just sitting there.”

“We had to knock Erica and Boyd out.”

“We?”

“Isaac found his anchor, but he requested that I rechain him. He helped me subdue the other two. All three of them got out. Go ahead. I know you’re dying to say it.”

“What? I told you so?”

“You did try to tell me.”

“But I also know why you didn’t listen.”

“How did you know?”

“When there’s a new Alpha, word spreads pretty quickly. What did you think was going to happen when word spread that Talia Hale’s son was now an Alpha. Especially since her pack was decimated by a Code breaker,” Derek sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“You were hurt as much as we were,” he simply said as we pulled into the parking lot of the sheriff’s station.

 

As soon as Derek opened the door, he paused, sniffing.

“What?” I asked.

“Blood. And lots of it. Stay here.”

“Have you met me?”

He snorted and looked at me. “Fine. Stay behind me then.”

“That’s better.”

We both walked in and Derek looked over the counter, breathing a curse. The officer Derek had flirted with to distract her while Stiles and I snuck in the night of Isaac’s first full moon was lying dead on the floor. Ten bloody slashes covered her chest and I noticed her gun was missing. I opened my mouth to mention that when I felt something against the back of my neck that felt a lot like claws.

“Derek,” I whispered, he turned and flashed his eyes. “Don’t do anything.” One simple nick and I would be out of commission for several hours and probably would also be dead before the sun came up. If Jackson didn’t out right kill me. Derek actually backed down, seeming to realize that any brash move on his part could kill me. I saw our reflections in the glass behind the counter and saw Jackson, who was partially transformed, point towards the sheriff’s office. Jackson stood right behind Derek and nicked the back of his neck. The door opened a second later to reveal Scott.

“Oh, thank God,” he said, relieved. Right before Derek fell to the floor. Scott had a look on his face that he knew we were screwed.

“Come on in. Join the party,” the teenager I’d seen at the hospital the night Jessica died said, waving a gun. Jackson removed the claws he had against my neck and then pushed me into the room. I glanced down at Derek, who looked more pissed than usual. Probably because he’d been nicked a second time. The teen bent over Derek and smirked.

“This is the one controlling him?” Derek asked. “This kid?”

“Well, Derek, not everyone’s lucky enough to be a big, bad werewolf,” I looked at the kid, surprised. “Oh, yeah, that’s right. I’ve learned a few things lately. Werewolves, Hunters, Kanimas. It’s like a frickin’ Halloween party every full moon,” He pointed at Stiles and I. “Except for you two. What do you two turn into?”

Yeah, he had no clue. “I’m not controlled by the phases of the moon, if that’s what you’re suggesting,” I informed him.

“Ah, pity. I would have loved to see what you could do."

 _You just might see what I can do_ I thought as he turned to Stiles. I knew I couldn’t do anything now. Not with Derek paralyzed and a Kanima standing much too close for comfort.

“What about you, Stiles? What do you turn into?”

“Abominable snowman,” I sighed. He just couldn’t keep that mouth of his in check, could he? “But, uh, it’s more of a wintertime thing, you know, seasonal.”

The teen was not amused and nodded his head. Jackson slashed the back of Stiles' neck.

“Hey!” Scott protested as Stiles staggered, only to have Jackson’s claws in his face as a warning.

“You bitch,” Stiles said as he went down. Right on top of Derek. Yeah, if he wasn’t pissed before, he definitely was now. Jackson wagged his finger back and forth, the universal sigh for “don’t even think about it”

“Get him off of me,” Derek said, his voice showing how pissed off he was.

“Oh, I don’t know, Derek. I think you two make a pretty good pair. And if Trish takes another step towards us, she’ll be next,” I froze. Okay, how the hell does he know my name? Hell, how does he know Derek’s? “It must kinda suck, though, to have all that power taken away from you with just a little cut to the back of the neck,” Yeah, taunting the werewolf is not a good idea, buddy. “I bet you’re not used to feeling this helpless.”

“Still got some teeth,” Derek retorted. “Why don’t you get down here a little closer, huh? We’ll see how helpless I am.”

“Yeah, bitch,” Stiles said, his attempt at being backup.

Another car pulled up and I looked at Scott, who looked like he was about to go into panic mode.

“Is that her?” the Kanima’s master asked. I really hoped “her” wasn’t who I thought it was. “Do what I tell you to and I won’t hurt her. I won’t even let Jackson near her.”

“Scott, don’t trust him!” Stiles warned.

The kid reached down and pulled Stiles off of Derek and onto his back. Jackson’s claws were against the back of my neck again as the teen pushed his foot against Stiles’ upper chest. Stiles immediately started gagging.

“Don’t!” I cried. He looked at me and Jackson put the claws of his other hand against my throat.

“This work better for you? How about I kill them both?”

“Hey, just stop!” Scott cried. “Stop!”

“Then do what I tell you to!”

“Okay. Alright.”

The teen stepped off of Stiles and the Kanima released me. Stiles coughed and I actually started breathing again. “You,” he said, looking at Jackson. “Take them in there. You two, with me.”

I glanced down at Derek, who gave me a quick nod. Stiles and I were probably the only two that would not survive being shot. He forced us out into the lobby as Melissa walked in.

“Mom?”

Melissa sighed and walked towards us. “You scared me, where is every…,” she trailed off when she saw Scott and I were being held at gun point.

“Mom, just do what he says. He promised he wouldn’t hurt you.” Scott turned towards the kid.

“He’s right,” He then pointed the gun at Scott’s stomach and fired. Melissa screamed and Scott went down. I darted towards him and he stuck the muzzle of the gun against the back of my neck. “Get up. You know he’s fine.”

I slowly rose, terrified now that he was going to shoot me and I could only think about Anna.

“Scott!” I heard Stilinski yell. “Stiles! What happened?”

“But I didn’t say I wouldn’t hurt him,” the teen said.

“Wait, baby,” Melissa started to step towards Scott.

“Back!” He shoved the hot muzzle harder against my skin and I squeezed my eyes shut. “Back! Or I shoot her next!” I was pretty sure Derek could hear my heart racing now. I had never been this terrified in my entire life. Even when Josh wolfed out in front of me for the first time.

“Mom! Mom, stop, Mom!” Melissa looked at Scott.

“I said back!”

“Melissa,” I whispered. “Just… just do what he says.”

“Scott.” I couldn’t see Scott, but I could hear the pain in his voice.

“Mom, do it. Please, Mom.”

Melissa backed up.

“Get up, McCall.”

“Matt!” Stilinski called. “Matt, listen to me!”

“Shut up! Shut up! Everybody shut the hell up! Now get up, now, or I shoot Trish and then your mom!” I have no idea how I wasn’t full blown panicking now, although my breaths came in short gasps at this moment. “That’s what I thought,” He took the muzzle off my neck and I probably would have collapsed from relief if he hadn’t pointed the gun at Melissa next. “Move it. Both of you.”

 

Matt marched us down the hall to the holding cells. I saw Stilinski was handcuffed to the wall. Matt forced the two of us into a cell and locked the door. Scott leaned against the wall, clutching his side. I knew he was still holding his side in order to catch the bullet when his body pushed it out.

“Please,” Melissa begged. “He needs to see a doctor.”

“You think so? What about you, Trish? Do you think he needs a doctor?”

Stilinski stood before my mouth could get me in trouble. “Hey! Hey, you listen to me!”

“Stilinski, don’t!” I warned.

“It’s alright,” Scott interrupted. “I’m okay.”

“No, honey, you’re not okay,” Melissa countered. She was terrified and her mascara was running down her cheeks.

“It doesn’t hurt, Mom.” I knew Scott was only trying to reassure her.

“‘Cause that’s the adrenaline, okay? Please, let us… Just let Trish and I take a look at him, okay? I mean, we can help stop the bleeding.”

“They have no idea, do they?”

Scott and I shared a look.

“Please. Just let me take a quick look.”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” He pointed the gun at Melissa and my instinct was to push her behind me. Matt just gave me a look before looking past me. “Lady, if you keep talking, I’m gonna put the next bullet through his head.”

Melissa squeezed my arm. “Okay,” she whispered. “Okay.”

“Back to the front, McCall,” Scott looked back at us. “After you.”

I nodded at him. He walked out of holding and the adrenaline from having a gun to the back of my neck disappeared and I braced myself against the wall and slid down it. “Oh, my God!”

“Trish?” Melissa crouched down in front of me and took my shaking hands.

“Oh, my God.”

 

~~~

 

After my near mental breakdown, I went to studying the lock.

“Why is he doing this?” Melissa asked. “What does he want?”

“I don’t know,” I said. I couldn’t use my magic in front of Stilinski and Melissa. Suddenly the power went out.

“What the hell?” Stilinski asked out loud as the auxiliary lights came on.

“Oh, shit,” I breathed at the same time. I knew what this meant. A minute later, we heard gunfire. “Oh, shit!” I repeated, louder.

Stilinski started pulling on the handcuff attached to the wall.

“Come on!” Melissa cried.

“God!” Stilinski grunted.

“Come on! Come on! Come on, you can do it,”

“You’ve got this, Stilinski,” I said.

A minute later, the plate came off the wall and the sheriff looked at it, surprised.

“Oh, my God!” I laughed. Melissa gave a sigh of relief. “Behind you!”

Melissa pointed behind him as I warned him. Matt ran up behind Stilinski and smashed him in the head with the gun.

Melissa screamed. “Matt? Matt, please listen to me,” she said as Matt looked to see if Stilinski was indeed unconscious. “My son has been shot and we’ve heard other gunfire and I don’t know what’s happening, but can you at least let me see my son?”

I saw Derek in a doorway and I was glad that the toxin had worn off quicker. But I was not glad that he was fully transformed.

“How totally clueless are you people?”

Melissa saw Derek and Matt turned as Derek growled.

“Hey, Matt?” I said. He looked back at me. “Remember when you said you’d love to see what I could do?” My eyes changed color as I spoke. “How about I show you before my Alpha tears you apart.” I pushed outwards, hitting Matt with the same force that I had Peter and he went flying backwards. Derek stepped farther into the room, snarling. Then the Kanima stalked into the room. “Ah, shit,” I said.

“What the hell is that?” Melissa asked and I actually wasn’t sure if she was referring to the werewolf, the Kanima or both. The Kanima screeched and Derek roared. I kept Melissa behind me, although I was pretty sure we were protected by the bars of the cell. The Kanima leapt at Derek and he slammed him onto a desk. Matt took off. Derek slammed Jackson down a couple more times before Jackson tried to attack with his claws. Derek blocked and then tried to slash with his own claws. Jackson kicked him across the room. The Alpha was on his feet a moment later. I couldn’t do anything to help without hitting Derek in the process. I glanced behind me and saw Melissa was watching the whole fight with a look that was a mix of shock and terror on her face. Derek dodged an attack and picked up a chair, blocking the next attack and shoving the legs into Jackson. Jackson grabbed the chair and shoved, sending Derek tumbling over the desk and onto the floor behind it. Jackson threw the chair to the side. Derek charged and Jackson grabbed the bars to lift himself up and kicked Derek in the chest hard enough to send him into the wall. Derek didn’t move.

“Derek!” The Kanima then looked inside the cell, trying to figure out how to get inside to us. “Oh, no you don’t, you scaly bastard.” I used the same, but stronger, force spell on Jackson. He went flying across the room before regaining his feet and doing the same thing again. I charged up the spell, making it stronger this time. I was so focused on the Kanima that I never saw a new person come into the room until Jackson went flying and Scott was in a protective stance in front of us. The Kanima took off and Derek leapt over the desk in pursuit. I released my magic as Melissa ran to the bars.

“Oh, God, Scott?” she asked. I could see his claws and I was sure that he was fully transformed as well. “Scott, you okay? Scott?” Scott slowly turned towards us. Yep, I was right. Scott the teenager was now Scott the werewolf. And I realized we both were going to have a hellva lot of explaining to do. Melissa gasped and Scott stood. Melissa started to back away and I saw the look of distress on his face at his mom’s reaction. “No!”

“Melissa,”

“Oh, my God! Your eyes!”

I’d forgotten they were still purple. I looked back at Scott and I saw the hurt. Melissa started to cry as she backed farther into the cell. Scott turned and darted off. “Scott!”

I placed my forehead against the bars. Yeah, not the best way for her to find out about Scott. Or me. Hell, I was brazenly throwing people and creatures across the room and had no reaction whatsoever to seeing three monsters. I turned back to Melissa. I knew I couldn’t get us out without raising questions. She was against the wall and on the floor, crying. “Melissa?” I changed back to my natural color.

“Don’t… don’t touch me. Just get away from me.”

“I can’t, Melissa.”

“Are you a monster just like them?”

“Scott’s not a monster,” I said, crouching down next to her. “He’s too pure-hearted to be one. I promise you this. But you can’t tell anyone what you saw tonight.”

“What?”

“They’ll only lock you up in Eichen House, but you have to trust me on this, okay? Look, you didn’t know about this side of Beacon Hills to protect you. But I promise to explain everything that happened tonight, you just have to keep quiet about it,” Melissa nodded and I pulled her into a hug. “We’ll be okay.”

 

**ANNA**

 

I had no idea where we were. We’d heard the gunfire before we reached the sheriff’s station. I saw Derek’s Camaro, Stiles’ Jeep and Stiles’ dad’s car in the parking lot, along with several black SUVs.

“Gerard’s here,” Peter all but growled. “What is he doing here?”

“Hunting?” I suggested.

“Or plotting. Park over there.”

I put the Renegade into park and Peter jumped out of the car. By the time I was out of the car, he’d disappeared. A couple minutes later, he reappeared. He beckoned for me to follow, which I did. He pulled me off the side of the road into some bushes as one of the black SUVs drove by.

“Come on.”

We walked quickly to where Gerard had parked his car. Which was in the middle of a narrow bridge. He put his fingers to his lips, a sign that I should be as quiet as possible. Gerard was pulling Matt into the creek that ran under it before shoving him under the water. I gaped as I watched the Argent murder the teenager.

“Peter,” I whispered.

“What is he planning?” Matt struggled against Gerard. It wasn’t long before Matt stopped struggling and Gerard straightened. Matt floated to the surface but didn’t move and Gerard stepped out of the water and then stopped, looking at something under the bridge.

“No longer afraid of the water?” he asked and I realized that he was talking to the Kanima. “Well, you don’t have to be afraid of anything, my friend.” Gerard pulled off a glove.

“Oh, you sneaky bastard,” Peter said as the Kanima approached Gerard.

“Especially me.” Gerard held his hand out, palm outwards, towards the Kanima. Jackson reached up and placed his hand against Gerard’s.

“Oh, my God,” I breathed. Peter took my arm and we went back to the Renegade. “He’s killed Matt so he could be the master, didn’t he?”

Peter nodded. “You have to warn your sister and the others. And I have to warn Derek. I don’t know what Gerard is planning, but having a Kanima under his control just made him even more dangerous than he already was.”


	12. Championship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trish helps Scott explain what they are to Melissa. The pack attends the lacrosse championship game

**TRISH**

 

Melissa wouldn’t even look at me. Reinforcements had arrived and the EMTs were treating the muzzle burn on the back of my neck.

“We had been called to the sheriff’s station because the sheriff had a tip that this teenager was the one that was killing people. Melissa and I had seen him the night Jessica was murdered. We were supposed to look at some photos to see if we could identify him. Next thing I know, I have a hot muzzle at the back of my neck and the same kid threatening to blow my head off if Melissa didn’t do what he said. The rest just happened so fast.”

The deputy took my statement. “Is that what happened, Mrs. McCall?”

Melissa looked like she was still in shock and slowly nodded her head. “Yeah. The sheriff was able to break free and tried to free us but Matt surprised him. I thought he was going to kill us. Then he just took off.”

“Thank you, ladies.”

Sheriff Stilinski came towards us. “You guys okay?” he asked.

“In a matter of speaking," I responded. "We’re alive.”

“They found Matt dead in the creek. They think he may have fallen in and knocked himself unconscious. They’re saying the cause of death is drowning.”

I nodded, managing to hide the worry. If Matt was dead, who was the Kanima’s master now? None of this should have happened. Derek had taken off. I was pretty sure I just lost a good friend. Peter was running around Beacon Hills somewhere, probably planning his next move. It was only a matter of time before Anna found out and thought that I lied to her. I had no idea how I was going to explain that one to her. I put the phone to my ear.

_Trish?_

“Anna, are you at home?”

 _Yes_.

“I need you to come pick me up at the sheriff’s station.”

_Why are you at the sheriff’s station? I thought you were with Derek._

“I was with Derek. I’ll explain when you come pick me up.”

 

~~~

 

I just looked at Anna. “What do you mean you knew?”

“He was in my room when I came home from the party. He also told me I needed to stop being so angry with Derek for killing him.”

“Anna, I just went through a few hours of thinking I was going to be paralyzed and killed by a Kanima and I had a gun to the back of my neck with the kid handling it threatening to kill me. I’m really not in the mood for any kind of joke right now.”

“It’s not. We went to the sheriff’s station looking for Scott and Stiles.”

“Anna!”

“I know who killed Matt,” I didn’t like the sound of that. “And Gerard is the new Kanima master.”

I dropped an f-bomb right then and there. We were screwed. Big time. “Just what we freaking need. Gerard to have a Kanima,” I picked up my phone just as it rang. “Just the person I was about to call,” I answered.

 _I was calling to check on you_. Derek said.

“You and the rest of the pack need to go into hiding now. Find somewhere else but the depot.”

_What happened?_

“Gerard killed Matt and took the Kanima.”

Derek let loose a string of curses. _Thank you. If he knows you —_

“Don’t worry about me, Derek. Just take your Betas and go into hiding. I’ll be fine,” I hung up. “I’ll need you and Peter to help me keep an eye out for him.”

I was just going to have to accept that Peter was in her life again. But that didn’t give him a free pass for me to trust him again.

 

~~~

 

I hadn’t spoken to Derek, the rest of the pack, Scott or Stiles since the incident at the sheriff’s station and Melissa was avoiding me like I had plague. I was really starting to think I had lost a real good friend, the closest friend I’d had since Laura died. All over Beacon Hills’ secret. I sighed as my phone rang and I was surprised to see it was Scott.

“Scott? Is everything okay?”

 _You need to get here now_.

“What happened?”

 _Just get here as fast as you can. Please. My house_.

“On my way.”

I didn’t even tell Anna where I was going, just ran out of the house. I was pretty sure I was speeding and I didn’t even knock when I got to the house. Just burst through the door like I lived there. Much like I used to do with the Hales. “Scott!”

“In here.” I went into the living room to find a very freaked out Melissa sitting on the couch.

“What happened?”

“Gerard has the Kanima now.”

“I know. Anna told me. She was at the sheriff’s station and saw him kill Matt.”

“What was she doing there?”

“Are you okay, Melissa?” I purposely didn’t answer the question.

“I just want to know what’s going on," Melissa said, her voice showing how freaked out she was. "I was just dangling from Scott’s ceiling by that lizard thing’s tail.”

I looked at Scott. “You haven’t explained anything to her yet?”

“This is the first time she’s talked to me all week. Gerard is using the Kanima to get vengeance for Kate.”

“Shit,” I breathed. This wasn’t any better than Matt having control of the Kanima. Innocent people were going to be killed. I sat next to Melissa and took her hand. “We should start from the beginning.”

 

~~~

 

Scott walked me out of the house. “Thanks for helping me explain to Mom.”

“I owed her an explanation, too.”

“I didn’t know about Laura and Derek’s cousin. I’m sorry.”

I gave him a smile. “Derek, Laura and Peter weren’t the only ones that Kate hurt when she set the fire,” I sighed. “If what Gerard said was true, I’m in his crosshairs just for being connected to the Hales.”

“Just watch your back.”

“I will.” I didn’t mention to Scott that Peter was alive again. Scott had enough on his mind without worrying about the wolf that bit him. He had filled me in on Gerard threatening Melissa if Scott didn’t do what he asked, which pissed me off. Gerard wanted Derek for some reason and I assumed it was because he blamed Kate’s death on him. Or because he wanted to cut a loose end from the fire. As far as Gerard knew, Derek was the only one who knew who set the fire. Unless Chris had filled him in with the fact that he, myself and three teenagers knew. Derek was losing his pack, Scott told me Isaac had asked his advice and then said all three were leaving during the lacrosse game. Peter was wandering around Beacon Hills. I suspected he was spending a lot of time at my house. In my sister’s room. Which I wasn’t very keen on.

 

~~~

 

Tonight was the big lacrosse championship game. With everything that was weighing on me and that was going on, a meaningless game was the last thing I wanted to be at. But I promised both Melissa and Scott I would be there. Melissa startled me by grabbing my arm.

“You scared the crap out of me,” I breathed.

“Sorry. I wanna see Scott before the game but I kinda don’t want to go alone.”

I smiled, understanding that she was afraid she’d be ambushed by the Kanima. “He should be in the locker room with the rest of the team. Come on.”

I hadn’t been in the boys’ locker since high school. Josh had played basketball with Derek and had also been on the swim and lacrosse teams. I’ll let your deviant little minds run wild on that. The locker room was full of the lacrosse team. Melissa hesitated at the door as I just walked in, passing Jackson on the way out. I turned around to see Melissa giving me an odd look.

“What?”

“You just strolled in there like it means nothing that this is a boys’ locker room.”

“Not my first time in a boys’ locker room.”

“What?” she paused. “Oh….”

I chuckled and we looked for Scott.

“Good morning,” Coach said over a megaphone speaker. “In less than an hour, aircraft from here will be joining others from around the world,” Melissa and I looked at each other, confused. “And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind.”

“What?” Melissa said.

“Mankind. That word should have new meaning for all of us today.”

I looked amused and shook my head, recognizing the speech. Melissa realized she was standing next to Stiles and patted his shoulder. He looked over it at her.

“What the hell is he talking about?”

“He does this every year,” Stiles sighed.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“We are fighting for our right to live.”

I was trying not to laugh. The team started cheering.

“Wait,” Melissa seemed to recognize the speech as well. “Is this…”

“Yep,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s the speech from _Independence Day_ ,” Stiles confirmed.

“Mmm-hmm.”

“But as the day the world declared in one voice…”

“Coach’s favorite movie,” Stiles explained to a now amused Melissa.

“We will not go quietly into the night!”

“He doesn’t know any sports speeches?”

“This is Coach we’re talking about,” I reminded her with a grin.

“I don’t think he cares,” Stiles agreed.

“Today we celebrate our independence day!”

The grin disappeared as I saw Gerard come out of Coach’s office as Coach finished his speech. The team cheered, fired up.

“Well spoken, Coach,” Gerard said, putting his hands on the coach’s shoulders. I saw Melissa stiffen and she grasped my hand tightly. I squeezed it to let her know I was there. “I might have chosen something with a little more historical value but there’s no denying your passion. And while I haven’t been here long, there’s no denying my pride in having a winning team for this school. I know you’ll all be brilliant tonight, even with only one co-captain leading you,” I glanced over at Scott, who was just looking at Gerard. “Now, I’m your principal, but I’m also a fan. So don’t think I’ll be content to watch you merely beat this team. Get out there and murder them.”

Stiles and I glanced at one another. If that wasn’t code for something, I didn’t know what was. I had a bad feeling that someone was going to die tonight.

“Oh, shit,” I whispered.

“You heard the man!” Coach took back over as Gerard made eye contact with me before turning away. “Asses on the field!”

The team cheered again and Scott darted over towards Coach. I pulled Melissa towards the door.

“What did he mean by that?” Melissa asked as I quickly lead her out of the locker room before the team exited.

“I don’t think he meant to inspire the lacrosse team,” I responded. “Are you sure you want to stay and watch the game?”

“Are you?”

“Yes,” I said it without hesitation. “If I can do something to prevent Gerard from killing someone with his new toy, I have to do it.”

“Then I’m staying,” I looked at her. “If and Scott and Stiles and Anna can do this, so can I.”

I smiled at her. And prayed her bravery didn’t get her killed.

 

~~~

 

Anna and I sat behind Stilinski and Melissa. I kept glancing over at Scott and Stiles. Scott had been benched and I had no doubt Gerard had arranged it so that Scott couldn’t interfere in whatever Gerard was planning.

“Trish,” Anna brought my attention to the fact that Stiles was clumsily running onto the field.

“Oh, dear,” I muttered.

“Oh, no,” Stilinski said at the same time. “Why is my son running on the field?”

“Because he’s on the team?” Melissa suggested.

It took Stilinski a minute to let that sink in before he looked at Melissa. “He is.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“He’s on the team. He’s on the field,” Stilinski stood. “My son is on the field!”

Anna and I busted out laughing while everyone else just looked at him like he’d gone insane. Stilinski looked around him before sitting down and Melissa started giggling. I put my hand on his shoulder.

“Amazing, ain’t it?” I said with a grin and Stilinski chuckled.

“Sorry. He just never plays.”

Anna giggled as Lydia sat down next to Melissa. Anna leaned forward. “Hey, Lydia.”

“Hey, Anna. I’m sorry if I’ve been a little weird lately.”

“No, I’m the one that needs to apologize. Come over later maybe? So we can talk.”

Lydia nodded. “I’d like that.”

The whistle blew and the game started. Stiles was the first to catch the ball before being instantly tackled.

“He’s probably just warming up,” Melissa sounded hopeful. Lydia nodded. Stiles went after the ball again. And was tackled again. That hurt me just watching.

“Oh, he’s just a little nervous,” Lydia said.

“First game, after all,” Anna added. I nodded.

“Plenty of time to turn it around.”

Stiles tried to catch a ball and it bounced off his helmet. The crowd booed and Stilinski buried his face in his hands. I saw Scott jump up and Coach pushed him back down.

“We need a miracle,” Anna said. I saw Isaac sit down next to Scott. I smiled, glad that Isaac had changed his mind and decided to stay, and leaned closer to Anna.

“We need a werewolf,” I whispered.

Anna glanced over towards Scott and saw Derek’s original Beta. “Yes, we do.”

They conversed a minute before Isaac looked past Scott with a smug look and Scott looked in the same direction. I glanced in that direction and saw Gerard. The look on his face said that his plan had just been ruined. Isaac and Scott conversed some more before he ran out onto the field. And then proceeded to knock a fellow player out of the game.

“Lahey!” Coach yelled. Coach sent another player onto the field. When Isaac knocked him out of the game, I realized what he was doing. He was making it so that Coach would have no choice but to put Scott into the game. After about the fifth player, Coach was getting upset. “Lahey! Seriously, what the hell is your problem?”

Isaac only shrugged and grinned. During the next play, five players, including Isaac, collided and four of them collapsed. Isaac didn’t get back up.

“Oh, crap,” I ran out onto the field, followed by Scott. “Isaac!”

“It’s not broken but I can’t move it,” he said quickly. EMTs rushed out to collect Isaac. “I think Jackson nicked me ‘cause I can feel it spreading.”

“One, two, three,” The EMTs loaded Isaac on a stretcher.

I leaned down close to Isaac’s ear. “Make your healing process kick in,” I whispered. “It’ll expel the toxin faster.”

The EMTs left with Isaac and I sighed.

“Either you’re in or we forfeit,” Coach swung a lacrosse stick towards him and Scott took it.

“Okay.”

Melissa joined us. “Something’s happening, isn’t it?” she asked. “Something more than a lacrosse game?”

I nodded.

“You should go,” Scott said.

“Oh, I’m not going anywhere. But everything I said before, forget it. All of it. Okay? If you can do something to help, then you do it. You have to.” She looked at me as she said that last sentence.

“I will,” He looked at me. “Trish?”

“It’s what I do, sweetheart,” I said. “I’ll do what I can to protect as many as I can. You just don’t give in to Gerard’s demands.”

He nodded and Melissa and I returned to the stands.

 

~~~

 

With Scott on the field, the crowd was wildly cheering. Number 42 on the other team slammed into Scott and I gasped. He then slammed into Stiles. Scott took a moment to regain his feet. And I then had the feeling in the pit of my stomach that something bad was about to happen. I glanced over to where Gerard had been standing only to find him gone. I looked around for him but I couldn’t find him. A moment later, I noticed that Scott was gone and I really hoped that Gerard wasn’t attempting to kill another innocent wolf. The players lost the ball and everyone was looking around for it. Stiles bent over and scooped it up before taking off towards the other team’s goal.

“Stiles! Go!” Anna screamed, jumping up. A stampede of players gave chase.

“Oh, crap,” Stilinski muttered. Stiles got to the goal and then stopped and turned around.

“Ah, crap,” I said. “Shoot it!”

“Stilinski!” Coach yelled. “Shoot it! Shoot the ball!” Stiles still hesitated. “Shoot it, you idiot!”

“Shoot it!” Lydia screamed.

 

Stiles shot.

 

And scored!

 

I jumped up screaming, Stilinski doing the same. Anna and Lydia screamed.

“Whoo-hoo!” Stilinski cheered. Stiles celebrated, no doubt excited that he’d actually scored a goal, which brought the score 9-8. Stiles got the ball again and raced towards the goal, dodging the player on the other team and scored again, tying the game. Stilinski was excited, screaming and jumping up and down as much as I was. Stiles once again got the ball and raced towards the goal.

Lydia stood. “Come on! Come on! Come on!” she cheered him on. He scored. We screamed and cheered wildly. The Beacon Hills Cyclones were once again lacrosse champions. The team was on the field celebrating, dancing around Stiles. The buzzer sounded, ending the game. The crowd went wild. Stilinski hugged Melissa and Anna hugged Lydia. I still had that feeling, despite my acting like a lacrosse fan for a bit. I saw Scott, who was looking around.

 

And then the lights went out.

 

The cheering turned to screaming and panic. I changed my eyes so I could see better, another advantage to the eye color changing ability. “Anna, stay with Lydia,” There was just enough moonlight to see and I hopped off the stands.

“Scott!” Melissa called. “Scott, where are you?” I saw that someone was down on the field.

 _Oh crap._ I literally ran into Melissa, more focused on the fallen.

“Scott?”

“No, Trish.”

“Mom. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine. But somebody is hurt. Somebody is down on the field.”

I rushed forward as the lights came back on. I immediately changed my eyes back before someone noticed.

“Get out of the way!” Coach was yelling. “Move! Back off!”

I was right behind him with Scott and Melissa behind me. Coach pushed his way through the gathered crowd and we saw that Jackson was the one down. “What the hell?”

“Jackson?” Lydia called. “What’s happened to Jackson? Jackson!” She pushed her way past the players as I knelt down and took his pulse as Coach called for a medic. “Jackson! What’s happening?”

“I don’t have a pulse,” I said.

Melissa went down to her knees next to him as I pulled his jersey up. “Oh, my God.”

Lydia started freaking out when we saw the blood. I immediately started chest compressions and Melissa did mouth to mouth. “Lydia, hold his head. Tilt it up,” Melissa said. Lydia did as she was told.

“Come on, Jackson,” I whispered.

“Where’s Stiles?” Stilinski asked. I continued to focus on preforming CPR on Jackson. “Where’s Stiles? Where the hell is my son?”

I then noticed the blood on Jackson’s fingers and I realized that he’d done this to himself. What reason did Gerard have to make his tool of vengeance kill himself? What was his plan?


	13. A Common Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trish and the pack allies with Chris to stop Gerard.

Jackson was placed into a body bag and then loaded into the ambulance. I was completely confused. Why would Gerard want Jackson to kill himself? How did that fit into his scheme?

“Thanks for your help,” the EMT said to us. “But we can take it from here.”

“You know, I’m gonna have to give a statement,” Melissa said. “Why don’t I ride with you?”

“Um, I think that would be a little —”

“Perfect, great.” Melissa ran around to the passenger side of the ambulance and the EMT gave an exasperated sigh and then looked at me.

“I guess you want to ride with me too?”

“Actually, I think I’ll drive myself," I said. "I don’t think there’s enough room for me in there.”

“Good.” She turned and headed to the driver’s side and I found Anna.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out,” I replied.

“Lydia doesn’t want to be alone.”

“Perfect, stay with her. And answer any questions she might have. If she remembers anything about what she did to raise Peter and asks about the supernatural, let her in on it.”

Anna nodded and I raced to my car.

 

~~~

 

At the hospital, Melissa and I gave our statements to the police. After they left, Melissa took my wrist. “Come on,” she whispered and we headed towards the morgue.

“You know, for someone that just found out about this world, you’re sure being assertive,” I commented.

“Don’t you want to know what happened to Jackson?”

“I want to know why Gerard wanted Jackson to kill himself. What that has to do with his big plan?”

“Then let’s find out,” Melissa pulled the curtains around Jackson’s body bag open. We walked in and Melissa hesitated, then noticed something. “What the hell is that?” she asked as she crouched down.

I saw what she was seeing. “Don’t touch it. It’s Kanima venom.” I saw the exam gloves and immediately put them on before fishing a vial out of my purse.

“Do you seriously carry vials around in your purse?”

“Yep.” I crouched down and collected the venom, having a feeling it might come in handy in the future.

“What are you doing?”

“A paralytic toxin might come in handy defensive wise in the future. And I definitely don’t have Kanima venom among my herbs.”

“I keep forgetting you’re a Druid.”

I chuckled and screwed the lid back on before placing the bottle in its holder in my purse and discarding the gloves. Melissa stood and unzipped the bag as I did so. “What the hell?” she asked out loud. I looked and couldn’t believe what I saw. Jackson was surrounded in a cocoon of venom.

“You need to call Scott. I think I know why Gerard wanted Jackson to kill himself.”

Melissa pulled her phone out and called her son. “Yeah? Well, I’m so freaked out I can barely talk right now. And Trish is pretty freaked out too and she’s been in this world a lot longer than me,” Yeah it was true. I was a bit freaked out because if what I thought was happening with Jackson was true, we were screwed. Big time. “Something. Definitely something. I don’t know what, but I think you’re gonna want to see this yourself. Trish doesn’t think it’s good.”

 

~~~

 

“What’s happening to him?” Scott asked, having brought Isaac along with him.

“I thought you were going to tell me!” Melissa exclaimed. “Is it bad?”

“I doesn’t look good,” Isaac commented.

“I think it’s a cocoon,” I said. I looked at the others. “I think he’s evolving. I think this was why Gerard wanted Jackson to kill himself. So he could evolve.”

“Yep, it’s bad,” Melissa said. Jackson suddenly moved and all four of us backed up. “Whoa, whoa.”

“Could… could one of you zip it, please?” Scott asked.

“Seriously? The big bad werewolf doesn’t want to zip the bag?” I smarted off before going over to the bag and starting to zip. The zipper got stuck right under Jackson’s chin. “You’ve got to be freaking kidding me!” Melissa jumped in to help me get the zipper unstuck. Then Jackson hissed and opened his mouth like he was going to bite our hands. Melissa squeaked and jumped back. And I pulled my hands back, startled.

“Trish, zip,” Scott said.

“Okay, okay!” I finally got the zipper unstuck and Jackson started thrashing his head.

“Zip. Zip, Trish! Zip!”

I closed the bag. “Hey, you’re not my Alpha so knock it off,” I said as I did so.

Scott pulled out his phone and updated Derek. “I don’t think we have time for that,” he said to the Alpha. Jackson was moving around a lot. “He says we have to get him outta of here now.”

“I second that motion," I said. "We’ll get him into my car.”

“And go where?” Isaac asked.

“I’ll figure that part out,” Isaac and Scott picked up the bag and I lead the way to the parking lot, acting as the look out. “Stop,” I whispered as I peeked around a corner. “Okay, now,” I jogged across the parking lot with the two wolves behind me until I heard a thud. I turned around to see that Scott had dropped his end and Isaac was looking at him wide-eyed. “Seriously? You couldn’t hold onto it?” Scott bent down to pick his end back up as a SUV pulled into the parking lot. “Oh, shit,” I immediately started to think of excuses why two teenagers were carrying a body bag. The SUV parked in front of us and I saw Chris step out of the car. Yep, we were screwed. There was no excuse I could come up with that a Hunter would believe. “There’s a perfectly logical explanation for this, Argent, and it involves saving innocent lives.”

“I know,” he simply said.

That threw me off guard. As did the fact that he didn’t have back up like he usually did.

“You’re alone,” Scott noticed as well.

“More than you know.”

“What do you want?”

Chris sighed. “We don’t have much in common, Scott. But at the moment, we have a common enemy.”

“That’s why we’re trying to get him out of here.”

“He’s not talking about Jackson,” I said. I could see it in his eyes.

Chris nodded. “No, I’m not. Gerard has twisted his way into Allison’s head in the same way he did with Kate,” He looked at me. “What you said the night she died, you were right. The fire was truly Gerard’s brainchild. He brainwashed Kate into doing it,” He turned back to Scott. “I’m losing my daughter. And I know you’re losing her, too.”

I realized Chris had known the entire time that Scott and Allison were still together.

Scott looked at him, surprised. “You’re right. So can you trust us to fix this?” Chris was quiet for a moment before nodding. “Then can you let us go?”

“No.”

“What?”

“My car’s faster.”

I held my finger up. “I am willing to ally with you, Argent. On one condition. You leave Derek alone after this.”

“You have my word on that.” That satisfied me. Chris had never backed out on his word with me.

 

~~~

 

We pulled up into the warehouse district and we all got out of the car.

“I think he stopped moving,” Isaac said. I looked around, Derek was supposed to meet us here.

“Where’s Derek?” Chris asked.

I sighed as Derek came towards us in an all fours werewolf leap before doing this stupid flip and landing in front of us. I rolled my eyes. “Was that really necessary?” I asked. He gave Chris a suspicious look.

“I’m here for Jackson. Not you,” Chris explained.

“Somehow, I don’t find that very comforting,” Derek looked at me. “This was your idea, wasn’t it?”

“I did suggest it over a month ago, but Chris offered to help us. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, remember?”

For once, he didn’t argue with me. “Get him inside.”

We walked into the warehouse as Chris pulled his SUV inside. The boys pulled the body bag out of the car and laid it on the ground.

“Where are they?” Scott asked.

Derek looked a bit confused. “Who?”

“Peter and Lydia,” I guess Scott knew now. Derek sighed before straddling Jackson and starting to reach down for the zipper. “Hold on a second,” Derek unzipped the bag. “You said you knew how to save him.”

Derek opened the bag. “We’re past that.”

I noticed the cocoon was gone and Jackson was partially covered in scales. “Derek, wait,” I said. My words fell on deaf ears.

“What about…,” Scott started.

“Think about it, Scott. Gerard controls him now. He’s turned Jackson into his own personal guard dog. And he set all of this in motion so that Jackson could get even bigger and more powerful.”

“Derek, you need to back up,” I warned. I hadn’t taken my eyes off of Jackson. I was pretty certain we were too late. Derek glared at me.

“No,” Chris said. Derek straightened. “No, he wouldn’t do that. If Jackson’s a dog, he’s turning rabid and my father wouldn’t let a rabid dog live.”

“Of course not,” Gerard’s voice came from my right and I saw him standing in the doorway. I glared at Chris, who had a shocked look on his face. “Anything that dangerous, that out of control, is better off dead.”

Derek raised his arm, claws extended and went for Jackson. Jackson’s hand shot up and he dug his claws into Derek’s chest.

“Derek!” I gasped in shock and backed up as the Kanima lifted Derek into the air as he stood. Scott backed away as well and Chris pointed his gun at Jackson. Jackson threw Derek several yards and through hanging plastic. The Kanima hissed at us.

“Well done to the last, Scott,” I looked at Scott. Gerard started to walk towards us. “Like the concerned friend you are, you brought Jackson to Derek to save him. You just didn’t realize that you were also bringing Derek to me.”

I heard the whistle of an arrow leaving the bow and Scott ducked. Isaac didn’t and the crossbow bolt hit him in the shoulder.

“Allison?” Scott asked.

I darted over to Isaac and pulled the bolt out. Scott darted over to us and helped him to his feet, dragging him out of harm’s way, I covering their escape. Chris fired at Jackson, which triggered the rest of his transformation. He retreated when he was disarmed and the Kanima went after the Hunter. I used my force magic against Jackson, but with his more powerful form, it barely staggered him and he slammed into Chris, sending him flying across the room. He turned towards me and hissed and I gathered my magic, my eyes turning. Derek flipped over a stack of pallets, fully transformed and roared. The Kanima’s attention went to Derek. The next thing I knew, I had a pair of fully transformed Betas on either side of me. Isaac looked at Scott as if he were waiting for his lead. I glanced at the older Beta and I saw his eyes weren’t bright yellow, like Isaac’s currently was, but a dull orange. I had never seen a werewolf with dull orange eyes. My mind went back to the fight my Alpha was currently having with the Kanima. Scott darted forward, as did I, with Isaac behind us. Chris had dropped a knife when Jackson had slammed into him, so I currently had that knife in my hand. Isaac was thrown across the room and I ducked at the swipe, cutting into his back. Yes, I know how to fight with more than magic. Shocker, right? Derek jumped down off a metal support beam and slammed his fists into the Kanima’s back, causing him to stagger forward and Derek swiped at him when he turned around. The Kanima blocked and grabbed him by the throat before spinning the Alpha around and slamming him against a wall. Derek went down and rolled and Scott kicked the Kanima in the back, sending him against the wall Derek had slammed into a moment ago. Scott charged and Jackson kicked him in the chest, sending him flying across the room and into the far wall. I stabbed him in the back, but wasn’t quick enough to avoid Jackson’s tail knocking my feet out from under me. Jackson turned to swipe at me and I sent a blast of my strongest force at him. He slightly staggered back but came at me again. I rolled, kicking him in the knee. He staggered again and I was able to regain my feet. I ducked a swipe and spun around. The Kanima kicked me in the stomach and I went down, rolling several feet before coughing. Derek charged and the Kanima slashed his stomach. Derek went down.

“Derek!” I cried.

Isaac immediately started to go towards his Alpha as Derek struggled to rise, only to be blocked by Allison, who slashed him several times before stabbing him in the back with duel daggers. Isaac went down and she looked over at Derek. She spun the blades around and headed towards Derek.

“No, Allison!” Scott cried. I stumbled, trying to rise in order to protect Derek. The Kanima stopped Allison in her tracks by grabbing her arms and making her drop the daggers and then grabbed her by the throat. She gasped.

“Not yet, sweetheart,” Gerard said as he came out of the shadows.

“What are you doing?” Allison asked.

“He’s doing what he came here to do,” Scott answered. I noticed his eyes were still a dull orange.

“Then you know,” Gerard seemed surprised.

“What is he talking about?” Allison asked.

“I’d like to know that, too,” I said. I was probably just as confused as Allison. And Derek judging by the look on his face. Gerard looked between Scott, Allison, me and then back to Scott.

“It was that night outside the hospital, wasn’t it, when I threatened your mother,” Chris helped me to my feet and I nodded to let him know I was alright. “I knew I saw something in your eyes. You could just smell it, couldn’t you?”

“He’s dying,” Isaac said, still on the ground but back in his human form.

“I am,” Chris looked distraught. “I have been for a while now.”

I realized why his look changed the night he dragged me to the animal clinic to examine Bennet. “That’s why your look changed when I told you how my mother died. You’re dying the same way she did,” I concluded.

“Unfortunately, science doesn’t have a cure for cancer yet,” He looked down at Derek. “But the supernatural does.”

Allison gave a sob, a tear rolling down her cheek. And I realized that he had used Victoria’s death to brainwash Allison into getting what he wanted. Gerard looked at Allison and the Kanima tightened his grip on her throat.

“You monster,” Chris said, hatred in his voice.

“Not yet.”

I realized what Gerard wanted. “No!”

“What are you doing?” Allison asked. Gerard looked at Allison again and once again the grip was tightened.

“You’ll kill her, too?” Chris was beyond pissed.

“When it comes to survival, I’d kill my own son!” I was in complete shock. “Allison’s survival, though, will depend on your little Emissary friend there.”

I realized then that Gerard had known the entire time. And that he was going to make me choose between my Alpha and an innocent teenaged girl. “You’re going to make me choose who to protect?”

“You protect him, the Kanima kills Allison.”

“And if I protect her, you’ll kill Derek when you turn.” I hadn’t planned on this at all. I glanced at Scott, who nodded.

“Scott,” Gerard said to the young Beta. Scott growled and transformed back to his human form. He looked between Gerard and Chris. Gerard looked expectant while Chris looked distraught. He looked at Allison and then at me. Scott then walked towards Derek.

“Scott, don’t do this,” I said. He hesitated before picking Derek up. “Scott!”

Derek looked over at me and shook his head. I hadn’t changed my eyes back yet, but I knew with the look in his eyes that he didn’t want me hurt because of him and I wasn’t sure if I could protect them both.

“Scott, don’t,” Derek grunted. “You know what Trish said is true. You know he’s gonna kill me right after. He’ll be an Alpha.”

“And worse than Peter ever was,” I added.

“That’s true. But I think he already knows that, don’t you, Scott. He knows the ultimate prize is Allison,” Allison shook her head at Scott. “Do this small task for me and they can be together. You are the only piece that doesn’t fit, Derek. And in case you haven’t learned yet, there’s just no competing with young love.”

My nostril’s flared, knowing that it was a jab at Derek’s naïve teenage relationship with Kate. And I saw that same anger on Derek. “Scott, don’t. Don’t!”

“I’m sorry. But I have to.” Scott pulled his head back.

“No!” I screamed. Chris held me back, making my decision for me. Gerard rolled up his sleeve. “Scott, no!”

Gerard put his arm into Derek’s mouth and he involuntarily bit. Gerard screamed in pain before removing his arm. Scott let Derek fall and Chris let go. I fell to my knees next to Derek as Gerard started laughing. I looked up as he held his arm up. I expected it to start healing, but instead, his blood began to turn black. My eyes changed back and I’m pretty sure I had a completely confused look on my face. Everyone around me must have had the same looks on their face because Gerard’s smile faded. “What?” He looked down at his arm and saw the thick, black blood trailing down his arm. “What is this? What did you do?”

Derek and I looked at one another. He was just as confused as I was. Then we both looked up at Scott.

Scott in turn looked down at us. “Everyone said Gerard always had a plan,” He looked at Gerard. “I had a plan, too.”

 

Oh. you conniving little shit.

 

Gerard pulled out a pill container and dumped the contents into his hand. “No, no…,” Gerard crunched the pills in his hand. “Mountain Ash!”

Okay, I have to give Scott credit for that. I would have never thought to switch his cancer pills for ones filled with Mountain Ash. With the Mountain Ash in his system, his body would reject the Bite. The black liquid started to come out of his nose, eyes and ears and he fell to his knees. He vomited a hell of a lot of the substance and I made a face. He collapsed afterwards. Derek looked at me, the unasked question in his eyes.

“Don’t look at me. I wasn’t part of this plan,” I said. I’m sure Scott thought I’d tell Derek, thus I wasn’t in the know.

Derek then looked at Scott. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you might be an Alpha, but you’re not mine.”

I scoffed and shook my head. Derek looked at him and seemed to accept that before his attention went back to Gerard, who was pulling himself across the floor, spitting. He looked at us.

“Kill them! Kill them all!” Gerard collapsed again, this time not moving.

The Kanima removed his hand from around Allison’s throat and she elbowed him in the face. He pushed her down and then stood in front of her, hissing at us. I jumped to my feet and went into a protective stance in front of Derek as something crashed through the wall and hit the Kanima. That something turned out to be Stiles’ Jeep with Stiles, Lydia and Anna inside.

“What the hell?” I sighed.

“Did I get him?” Stiles called, causing Scott to give a small laugh.

The Kanima hopping onto the hood and the girls shrieked. Jackson roared and Stiles screamed. The three of them scrambled out of the car and Lydia stopped in front of Jackson.

“Jackson!”

“Lydia!” I cried. Anna held onto my arm.

“Jackson.”

“Lydia!” Stiles cried as Jackson raised his hand to strike and Lydia held something up. Stiles started to go back for her and Scott stopped him. Jackson froze and slowly began to turn back into Jackson.

“She figured out how to reach him,” Anna whispered.

Jackson took a key from her and he seemed to realize who he was again. He looked at Lydia before backing up. He looked past me and held his arms out. I looked over my shoulder to Derek rise. I looked back at Jackson and he nodded. I moved over so Anna and I wouldn’t get caught between Derek and Jackson. Peter suddenly came out of nowhere and Derek darted past me, sinking his claws into Jackson’s side and Peter dug his claws into his back. Anna gasped and I’m sure my mouth hung open in shock. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that Derek would kill him anyway. Jackson fell to his knees and Lydia rushed forward to catch him. Derek backed away as he transformed back to human and glanced over at me, a look on his face that said he hadn’t really wanted to kill him. Isaac backed up as well, and Derek put his hand on his Beta’s shoulder to keep him from backing into him.

“Do you…,” Jackson whispered. “Do you still?”

“I do,” Lydia sobbed. She nodded her head. “I do still love you. I do, I do still love you. I do.”

Jackson collapsed into Lydia and she began to sob as the key fell out of his hand. Anna hugged me tight, tears rolling down her cheeks. Lydia gently laid Jackson down as I stoked Anna’s curls, tears in my own eyes. All this time of trying to save Jackson, only for him to lose his life after all.

“Where’s Gerard?” Allison suddenly asked. I looked over to where he’d collapsed to find him gone.

“He can’t be far,” Chris said.

He’d made his escape while we’d been focused on Jackson. Lydia stood and wiped away her tears, turning away from Jackson. Stiles started to walk towards her when we all heard scratching. The wounds Derek gave Jackson healed and Stiles backed up. I pushed Anna behind me as Jackson stood. And roared as a fully transformed werewolf. Yeah. I think I may have seen everything now. He transformed back to human and looked very confused afterwards.

“Holy crap,” I breathed. I definitely wasn’t expecting that. At all. Lydia ran and jumped into his arms and the two hugged each other tightly. I looked back at Derek, who looked just as puzzled as me.

“He scratched my Jeep,” Stiles said as he walked towards it. Scott opened his mouth to say something but then decided against it.

“Let’s go home.”

 

~~~

 

A few days later, I was walking through the woods with Derek, Peter and Isaac. The three had failed to find Erica and Boyd. They had been captives of Gerard and once he’d returned for the warehouse incident, Chris had set them free. But now the two were missing.

Peter had been trying to get me to talk to him for the entire walk. “Come on, Trish. I made a mistake. I get that. Will you stop giving me the silent treatment? How many times to I have to apologize. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“Oh, for the love of God will you talk to him so he’ll shut up?” Derek said. Isaac chuckled.

“Come on, your sister trusts me.”

I stopped and turned to him. “Okay, for starters, don’t use Anna against me because that will get you hurt.”

“Fair enough.”

“And just because Anna trusts you, doesn’t mean I have to. I trusted you and then you went on a killing spree that included your own family. There’s no trust between us right now. But prove to me that I can and possibly I will again. Prove it to me, Peter.”

“Again. Fair enough.”

 

We approached the Hale house and I did not like what I saw. A swastika looking triskilion was painted onto the door. I sighed. They were here.

“You haven’t told him everything yet, have you?” Peter sighed. Isaac looked back at the three of us and Peter looked at the two of us. Derek and I looked at one another.

“What do you mean?” Isaac asked.

Peter leaned against a tree. “Why do you think Derek was in such a hurry to build his pack, despite Trish warning him he couldn’t control three newly turned wolves at once during a full moon?” How the hell did Peter know that? “So eager to strengthen his power and number? When there’s a new Alpha, people take notice.”

“People like who?” Isaac pointed at the triskilion on the door. “What is this? What does it mean?”

“It’s their symbol,” Derek answered. “And it means they’re coming.”

“Who?”

“Alphas,” I said.

“More than one?”

“A pack of them,” Derek added.

“An Alpha pack,” Peter said. “And they’re not coming.”

“They’re already here,” I finished. But I knew something Peter or Derek didn’t.

 

I knew the real reason the Alpha pack was here.


End file.
